BAD PUBLICITY FOR THE FINANCIAL CRISIS IN GREECE

Corruption and waste have left Greece close to collapse, writes Matthew Campbell/The Sunday Times/20.12.09/page 31

Response:

Mr Campbell

As any other professional journalist in politic affairs you undoubtedly carry a good understanding of the challenges that the Greek state faces along with the PIIGS group. We all agree that the global economic crisis stressed the existing problems of the Greek government running the state’s affairs efficiently.
We all want to see the new elected socialist party making brave decisions in cutting the public expenditure down, discontinue practices and mentalities of corruption and prioritise green investment policies in government’s agenda.

However the caricature style of your descriptions is not equivalent to the high standards of a newspaper like the Times and I find them rather offensive when you address the Greek government, the Greek people and referring to Greek state as banana republic.

Greece as one of the oldest members of European Union, part of the eurozone group and member of many international organisations clearly proves that it’s a prosperous country with established democratic constitutions that safeguard and protect the citizens’ rights and freedoms.

The ‘Times’ carries a tradition in publishing articles of foul language and bad publicity when its journalists describe critical and sensitive issues of Greek interest. It is time for the editors to review their editorial ethics as references to rumours of the Greek ex-prime minister playing play station instead of attending parliamentary meetings have only place in daily gossip magazines.

The petty image of the peasant south European that a generation of British journalist tends to address as their counterparts, do not have place in the European Union of nations.

PS
Indicative comparative figures which you can research and may understand then the differences between the Aglosaxonic and the Greek model of governing a state.

Those they practise a profession in Greece are entitled to 14 salaries compare to 12 in Uk.
Anyone who is made redundant in Greece is entitled by the low to receive a month salary per year of employment and not a week’s compensation compare to Uk.
The state pension as proportion of average working pay in Greece is 95.7% where in UK is below the European average only 30.8% condemning British pensioners in poverty.Hospital beds are 4.9 per 1,000 people available in Greece where compare to Uk is only 4.1 per 1,000 people available