IMER Master Thesis 1 year
Spring 2015
GP501
“Who are they & Why are
they here?”
A media analysis of the negative portrayal of
immigrants in the mainstream Greek press.
Author: Eleni-Ioanna Malafouri 890301T289
Supervisor: Christian Fernandez
I would like to seize the opportunity to thank the department of Global & Political Studies of the University of Malmö for providing the most fostering environment for my academic development.
Special thanks to Christian Fernandez for his constant guidance that has been proven of immeasurable importance during the conduct of this dissertation and Joanna Tsoni for her advice and support. Many thanks to all my Master's colleagues, especially Charlotte Rasmussen, Kyle Campbell, Rennato Johnsson and Nara Farias who enriched my knowledge of the IMER field.
I would also like to extend my gratitude to my parents for their undivided support and caring. To my close friend Chryssa for cultivating, day by day in our friendship, my sensitivity towards matters of migration and last but not least my fiancé, Socrates, for his unconditional love, company and support during the conduct of this thesis and in every aspect of my life.
Abstract
Eleni-Ioanna Malafouri, International Migration and Ethnic Relations, University of Malmö. Abstract of Master's Thesis, Submitted 22 May 2015: Who are they and why are they here? A media analysis of the negative portrayal of immigrants in the mainstream Greek press.
This study is an initial attempt to investigate the negative depiction of immigrants in the mainstream Greek press of the 2000s. Our goal is to identify the dimensions of negative image-making and discuss the dichotomy of the ''identity'' and the ''otherness'' projected in the contemporary press. In order to accomplish that, data, collected from selected articles in a number of best-selling Greek newspapers, were scrutinised with regards to their content, style of writing, presentation as well as their readability and triggering of a wider social discourse at the time of their publication. Using a retroductive approach, to wit travelling back and forth from the general phenomenon to specific incidents, we showed that via the presentation of the negative association of the immigrants with a) criminality, b) the obscure market and c) their unworthiness to bear national symbols, the mainstream Greek press intensifies the presence of certain dichotomies. Such dichotomies, as they appeared in the text and presentation of the articles, are the “identity” versus the “otherness”, “we” versus “they”, as well as one’s race “superiority” versus the “inferiority” of the other, “locals” versus “immigrants”.
Key concepts:
media, media portrayal, Greece, immigrants, public sphere, representation,1.Introduction………1
1.1Statement of the topic and motives ………..…………...1
1.2Aim and research questions………..…2
1.3Outline of the thesis………..……3
2Contextual Background and Prior Research………...4
3Theoretical Framework………..11
4Research Strategy and Methodology / Delimitations and Material Selection………...14
4.1Research Strategy……….…..14
4.2Methodology and Delimitations……….……14
4.3Resource Selection……….…17
4.4Media Outlets……….…18
4.5List of Selected Articles……….……19
5Material Analysis………...21
5.1Immigrants and the impact on unemployment rates………..21
5.2Immigrants bearing national symbols………26
5.3Immigrants and their involvement in criminal acts………..…….31
6Discussion……….36
7Epilogue………38
8References……….……41
8.1Greek Literature………...41
8.2English Literature………..……43
“Who are they and why are they here?”
A media analysis of the negative portrayal of immigrants in the mainstream Greek
press.
1. Introduction
1.1 Statement of the topic and motives
Drawing upon the fact that there is an acute turmoil taking place in the political scene of Greece as well as the recent media discourses over the immigrant shelters in the country, I have decided to set myself out on an investigation of the role of the media with regards to matters of immigration.
Greece being my homeland even more so within the framework of the current state of recession is the main reason for choosing to focus my academic investigation on its territories. Having studied and worked as a journalist in various Greek media, including the National Radio and Television of Greece (ERT S.A), I have always been sensitised in the media portrayal of immigrants and the discussions taking place over the notion of immigration; not to mention, from a more theoretical -or even philosophical- point of view the ways in which media have the capacity to influence the society.
Nevertheless, apart from my personal zeal, it is the country's current state that drew my attention towards a sociological approach on migration matters. On the dawn of the World War I and the Greek Civil War, Greece has been characterised by the mass flows of emigration. Especially during the latter, about 130,000 people were forced to seek asylum in other countries as political refugees (Vergeti, 2003). After the collapse of the USSR and the political instability in Albania in the 90's and the Middle East in the early 00’s (Kassimis & Kassimi, 2004), Greece took a shift from being a sending country to a popular destination for immigrants, as well as a way-point for those involved in transit migration, aiming at entering
Europe, given the country's geographical position. Being involved in the contemporary media of my country, I was always shocked by the aggregate presence of nationalism and the more often than not negative illustration of immigrants in the press or the TV. In that perspective, there is a justifiable question to be asked and it is what drove me to get involved with this attempt: Why would a society that has a great history of emigration keep a negative attitude towards the receiving immigrants?
1.2 Aim & Research Questions
Through this dissertation we intend to illustrate and discuss the ways in which the mainstream Greek press has presented the phenomenon of immigration from the first major inbound flow, during the 90's, up until today, on the back of a primarily negative bias.
In order to achieve our objectives, we have articulated one main research question that would function as the guideline of our investigation and three sub-questions that provide precision.
• In what ways does the mainstream Greek press sketch a negative portrait of the immigrants living in the country?
Sub-questions:
1. How are the negative images of immigrants projected in the mainstream Greek press identified?
2. What are the dimensions of the negative depiction of immigrants in the mainstream Greek press over the course of time?
3. Which are the main positions of the mainstream Greek press regarding negative representation of immigration?
1.3 Outline of the thesis
In order for this thesis to offer a neat overview of the phenomenon, it is divided in seven chapters. The first chapter serves as an introductory section that informs the reader over the aim of this study and the research questions to be answered.
The second chapter is comprised of a general background as well as the description of research conducted within the wider field, starting from the first attempts of the researchers to approach the phenomenon of immigration in Greece and moving on to more specific studies, closest to our own, aiming at the combination of migration, media and sociology studies.
In the third chapter we present the theoretical framework which will be used as an umbrella for our material analysis. In the course of this section, we will interrogate the concept of representation and stereotyping in the press, as well as the dichotomies formed, such as the rhetorics of superiority / inferiority, identity / otherness, we / they.
The fourth chapter is dedicated to the methodology followed in order for us to approach the answers of this thesis' research questions and draw our conclusions in a reliable way. In this section, we present our research approach, the selection of our material, a brief description of the Greek press background as well as a list of the articles used in our analysis.
The material analysis of our research takes place in the fifth chapter that is divided in three subsections, according to the three axes of investigation, which will be identified and justified in prior chapters. Each subsection contains a concluding summary, where the essence of the analysis is offered in a condensed form.
The sixth chapter of the thesis is comprised of a discussion based on the material analysis findings and the theoretical framework projected to the wider, general Greek media discourse over the phenomenon of immigration in the country.
Last but not least, chapter seven contains a brief summary of our attempt along with our suggestions for further investigation of the matter in question.
2. Contextual Background & Prior Research
In this chapter we shall present a contextual background as well as an overview of the prior research, in order to provide the reader with a fair knowledge of the country's situation and the academic exploration of the wider field. Initially, studies from the migration field in Greece, which is our target-country, will be presented in order to help us acquire a comprehensive understanding so much of the academic background but also the country's state. As we move on, we will present interdisciplinary-multidisciplinary academic attempts, thus, a number of studies that have approached the matter of the media representation of immigrants will be thoroughly discussed.
It is imperative to acknowledge that prior research conducted in the field has served as a compass for the realisation of this thesis by providing us with an ample understanding of the background as well as guiding us towards the selected methodology in order to produce inferences of academic interest and possibly entry points for future research.
Overview & Discussion
Even though we observe a large and constant activity in the wider field of media and migration, with regards to academic research that can function as the basis of our study, unfortunately, interdisciplinary studies that combine these sectors have drawn little interest in the case of Greece. Being a country in progressive recession for several years, the academia has mostly approached ''practical'' issues, most of the times addressed with quantitative methods, aiming at the tackling of the crisis and the identification of the problem, especially since it is the state that mainly finances the researches. According to Stratoudaki H. (2008:9), though, an absence of theoretical continuity as well as of methodological consistency can be observed, even in studies that have been carried out on behalf of the same financier, hindering the possibility of imprinting with clarity the progress of the situation of immigrants in the Greek society. A reason for this discontinuity, apart from the dearth of the financial capital, is also the notion of ''illegality'' surrounding the perception of the immigrants by the polity, by the time of their entrance to the denial of their permit, a fact that has been an obstacle for the researchers that have been willing to approach immigrants as part of their studies, especially
the ethnographic ones. (Stratoudaki H. 2008:10)
Scholars such as Stratoudaki (2008), Zografakis & Kasimis (2014) and Lianos (2004) who concentrated in the investigation and criticism of the recent research field, suggest that immigration issues come and go from the academic foreground depending on the political and economic agenda of the state as well as the appearance of incidents and their severity over the course of the years.
According to Stratoudaki (2008) the basic thematic axes, id est the ones that seem recurrent to a number of studies, regard the a) demographic characteristics, composition and miscellaneous features of the incoming populations, b) the integration of immigrants in the Greek market, state institutions and the rights of the immigrants, c) the transformation of Greece from being a sending country to being a receiving one, d) border control issues and to a much lesser extend e) the public opinion towards immigrants and their representation by the Greek Media.
Initially, the first studies came to the foreground a few years after the first immigration flow1, triggered by the collapse of the Central Eastern European communist regimes in 1989 and the political instability of neighbouring countries such as Albania and Bulgaria. (Triantafillidou, A. & Marourof, M., 2009) These first attempts of approaching the issue concentrated on the axis of identification of the incoming populations and their demographic characteristics, as well as matters such as the human, social and cultural capital. Taking out of the equation studies regarding repatriate Greeks, where information and knowledge were more easily acquired, it was only after the Green Card (residence permit) issuing that researchers could approach immigrants in order to conduct their studies, free from the umbrella of ''illegality'' that was covering their situation after their entrance in the country. Notwithstanding the popularity of such mainly quantitative studies, though, many gaps are observed and many conceptual shifts are not addressed, indicating the need for further research with methodological continuity and homogeneity.
Another appealing subject for the researchers has been the matter of economic integration of the immigrants and the impact of their presence in the economic state of the country. Driven by statistical data, many scholars have occupied themselves with studies regarding the economic shift of the state and the impact of the new-comers to the employment sector. Nevertheless, apart from the fact that such studies are dated mainly during the 1990's and the early 2000's - thus contemporary research is rather scarce- according to Stratoudaki
1 Even though there is a dramatic rise of immigrants in Greece due to return migration, this study only focuses on foreign nationals, perceived as 'aliens' and not the returning Greek diaspora.
(2008), certain irregularities have been observed regarding the samples and the methods of categorisation, namely the absence of distinction between regular and irregular immigrants and the clarification of the ''productive age'', in the majority of these researches.
What seems to be of a central importance to a number of scholars -mostly historians- , as well, is the reasons why Greece took a turn from being a sending country during the times of political instability and warfare to being a receiving country despite the fact that its economic status was not favourable or even solid.
On a different axis, we also find studies focusing on deportation, border issues as well as the past and current immigration policies of Greece, especially at the time of the country's incorporation in the EU and the inauguration of the FRONTEX regulations. Most of the studies are addressing the challenges of border trespassing especially in the Aegean – in islands such as Lesvos, Chios- as well as the river Evros at the northeastern part of Thrace, the northern borders and the isle of Corfu.
Nevertheless, as mentioned above, little research has been conducted regarding the sociological aspect of the phenomenon, much more the media representation of immigrants and the public opinion towards them. (Triantafillidou, A. & Marourof, M., 2009) This, though, does not mean that this sector has attracted zero attention. As mentioned in Lianos, T. (2004), several studies within the sociology field, both quantitative and qualitative have produced results that show (a) an increase in criminality with regards to immigration, (b) the slow process of immigrants' integration in the Greek society as well as c) evidence of racism and xenophobia and its negative consequences for both immigrants and Greeks.2 However, there are numerous research gaps until nowadays with regards to social integration, demographic development, housing, social security, immigrant contributions, the role of the state etc. mainly because of the low or non-existent budget that academic institutions receive from the state at the era of the financial recession.
Moving forward to research that contemplates on the public opinion towards immigrants in Greece we come across studies conducted by Greek or foreign national scholars, using different methodological frameworks, initiated from different perspectives, and, thus, producing varying results and conclusions. Most of the studies, generated by interviews, focus groups and questionnaires intended to show evidence of xenophobic feelings or racism in the Greek society by focusing on specific groups of the population,
2 Although there is much talk over the phenomenon of racism in Greece, the evidence of the studies were not sufficient in order to draw generalised inferences over the Greek society. Most of the studies are occupied with certain incidents and do not establish a holistic view. (Lianos, T. 2004:3)
classified by social class, gender, economic class or even area of residence. (Stratoudaki, H. 2008) These studies shed light for the first time to the matter of the perception of “aliens” and the “other” in the public opinion's collective mind. According to studies conducted by Fragoudaki & Dragona (1997), Voulgaris (1995), Michalopoulou et al. (1998), Triantafillidou & Marourof (2009) Greek society is characterised by mixed feelings with regards to immigrants, depending on the target group, with a positive tendency as we move on to more recent scholar attempts. This positive trend could be explained by contemplating on the initial cultural, political and financial shock of the Greek population after the first immigration flow3 and the time that was given to the society in order to come to terms with the new situation.
However, with the onset of the economic crisis, xenophobia and racial violence escalated substantially, while only presented in certain incidents by a few studies. (Edwards,M.B., 2014) The reason behind scarce representation of this phenomenon, according to Edwards M.B. (2014:12) is the official indifference, coated with the no formal registering of racial violence incidents by the authorities as well as by the appearance of far-right, extremist parties, most importantly L.A.O.S and Golden Dawn. The MNS report for 2012 reported 154 incidents over 2012, mostly physical violence carried out by organized groups –many linked to Golden Dawn. Edwards' research also steps on an interesting quote from the campaign speech of the then Prime Minister, A. Samaras, who urges the citizens to vote for him in order to reclaim the Greek cities from the immigrants, addressing them all as “illegal”.4
Following the influence of public discourse with regards to such matters, as immigration, we have come across studies that investigate into the ways the Greek media portray the immigrants that live in the country. Media's contribution in the construction and interpretation of reality is an attractive theme that is constantly being explored by researchers in a wide spectrum of fields. Research that has been done with regards to the Greek media and the representation of immigrants is mostly dated from the early 1990's up to the first years of the 21st century, thus, as mentioned above, little scholar activity is being observed recently. Most of the studies are of qualitative nature, the majority of which follows the methodological approach of discourse, content and text analysis; thereby, little inferences and almost no
3 Already in 1994 a majority of Greek citizens (64%) felt that the country had reached its limits in terms of how many foreigners it could take.(Eurobarometre, EB42 in Triantafillidou and Marourof 2009: 57). 4 Extract from the then Prime Minister's speech: ''Greece today has become a centre for illegal immigrants. We
must take back our cities, where the illegal trade in drugs, prostitution and counterfeit goods is booming. There are many diseases and I am not only speaking about Athens but elsewhere too.
generalisation can be drawn regarding the severity of the findings and their impact in a wider scale. (Stratoudaki, M. 2008) During the first immigration flow, characterised by large numbers of Albanian immigrants, Koiliari, A. (1997: 43) suggests a rather negative portrait of the immigrants in the Greek press which, as she mentions, exposes the reader to ''a group of people that appeared to be hopeless within the borders of their country and have come to his/her own country in order to take advantage of, many times at his/her own expense, the opportunities for wealth and work.'' The recurring characteristics of the published articles, according to the author, have shown a tendency of implying that (a) immigrants should be considered as a threat to the cultural values of the society, (b) described as the opinion of the societal majority, (c) more talk is taking place regarding the criminality of immigrants but less or no talk concerning the problems that immigrants are facing and (d) matters of racism and xenophobia are scarcely discussed.
What is more, another study of that period, prepared for the Council of Europe by Spinelli et al. (1993, in Triantafillidou and Marourof, 2009) identified the themes below as the principal focus of the Greek press coverage with regards to immigration:
the increase of unemployment in Greece as a result of immigration
the increase of criminality, mostly regarding thefts, drug trafficking and rapes law enforcement with regards to border control and trespassing
the highlighting of ethnic origin of immigrants -namely Albanians at that time.
Even though these studies were conducted more than a decade ago, recent studies, unfortunately, show very little shift in the political discourse and the media news-making. Although a more balanced account of immigration and minority issues has been accomplished, reporting on such matters is still ''couched in conspiracy theories and an overall perception of national threat.'' (Triantafillidou, A. & Marourof, M., 2009: 54)
National and cultural purity presented as threatened -many times out of context- by historical enemies, such as the Turks, or National traitors, such as the Macedonian minority, but also third-party brokers, such as the EU, the US government or even NGOs, functions as a distorted interpretation of reality, depicting the ''other'' as an ''enemy''. (ibid. 2009: 54-55) All in all, the media coverage seems to be occupied with an alleged threat for the society rather than presenting the sensitive position of the immigrant and the minority community.
Triantadillidou & Marourof have traced patterns of recurring references to immigrants by the media that can be generally mentioned in the list below:
exploited by human traffickers.
Immigrant criminality and scapegoating of immigrants in published articles referring to all sorts of criminal activity within the Greek borders.
In their study, though, Triantafillidou & Marourof have identified the first few, tentative steps towards a more “humanitarian” media coverage that includes matters such as immigrant integration, career success, honourable individual conduct with the nationals, as well as immigrant students' integration in public schools; although there is also the antipodal perspective of favouritism of minorities, the waste of the Greek nationals’ taxes to the immigrants' education and the issues of flag-bearing in National parades by foreign nationals.5 Triantafillidou, being a zealous researcher in matters of media coverage and immigration, along with her fellows participating in the project MEDIVA (2011) -standing for Media for Diversity and Migrant Integration- notes that ''media outlets do not cover immigration as a topic continuously. Instead, they tend to flood the media space with instant coverage when something dramatic happens but quickly drop the subject at “normal” times, thus prompting the public to think of immigration in the problem /conflict /difficulty framework.'' (Triantadillidou, A. et al. 2011: 6) This statement is in harmony with Van Dijk's opinion that media's negative representation of immigrants is highly reflected on numerous news reports while subjects such as immigrants and minorities' rights are much less frequent in the media. (1988:172)
Another study worth mentioning was carried out by Tsaliki, L.(2010), lecturer of the Communication and Media Studies Faculty, on behalf of the University of Athens. True to Van Dijk's statement that ethnic minorities are -more often than not- represented in the press associated with criminal action, violence and problematic immigration (1991), the survey uses a quantitative approach in order to investigate the media representation of Albanian immigrants. With regards to this approach, there is a special focus on the method of content analysis on three mainstream national newspapers, id est Ta Nea, I Kathimerini and I Avgi and four mainstream national TV channels, namely MEGA, ANTENNA, NET and STAR.(Tsaliki, L. 2010) The inferences of this study have shown that media coverage of migration depends highly on the political agenda. There are periods of time that the Albanian minority seemed to be non-existent, which indicates a relative absence of the minority towards public discourse and decision-making. (ibid. 2010: 102) What is more, with regards to framing issues, the
5 National parades are taking place twice a year, on October 28th and March 25th, as a part of the National
Celebrations. As a custom, the student with the highest grades of the class is to bear the flag, according to the Greek Ministry of Religion, Education and Lifelong Learning.
survey showed that, especially in the TV, Albanian-related pieces were presented in a conflictual frame. On the other hand, as presented in aforementioned studies, tendencies towards a more positive representation of the minorities are currently more apparent than in the past, as the findings of Tsaliki's study clearly imply.
Fani Kountouris (2008), a prominent scholar of the National Centre for Social Research has also occupied herself with the image-making of the immigrants in the Greek press, in a longitudinal research, focusing on publications of the best-selling newspaper Ta
Nea from 1950 up until 2005. The study is conducted in a quantitative approach, looking into
the role of the press in the social construction of the immigrant. Fani Kountouris discusses thoroughly the multifaceted image of the immigrant in the course of time while scrutinising a fair amount of articles published in the specific newspaper. In spite of the detailed attempted, though, one has to consider that little or no generalisations can be made by investigating a single medium.
In the sake of recapitulation, matters of Immigration, Representation and the role of Media in the Public Discourse have been of central focus to scholars of the wider spectrum of the academia, with regards to the case of Greece. Immigration as a concept, especially, has attracted many researchers, following a variety of methods, approaches and perspectives in their investigations. Unfortunately, and apart from combinations of approaches and methodology, little has been done with regards to interdisciplinary or multidisciplinary studies that aspire to connect the notions of immigration with the representation and the media coverage lately. What is more, even though a certain scholar activity has been observed during the 1990's and the early years of the 21st century, there seems to be little interest in such matters nowadays, especially from a qualitative perspective, despite the fact that Greece is still an attractive destination for immigrants and the economic status of the country has not changed, at least positively.
On the other hand, the prior research field and its findings constitute the basis for our research since it gives us an overview of what has been done in the past, what the trends and the recurring patterns are and where we need to draw our attention in order to provide the academia with a fruitful and significant contribution.
3. Theoretical Framework
Stereotypes and representation: ''we'', the ''others'' and the media
Media offer a cognitive framework that influences the intake and understanding of the social reality. They are comprising a symbolic environment within which individual values, attitudes and behaviours are being constantly reformed. The attempt to research the contents of the press, especially from a qualitative perspective, includes scanning the material for negative definitions of the ''other'', in this case the immigrant. As Christofer Dornan notes ''in the era of the postmodern, self-referential media society, what matters is not the actions taken but in what ways these actions appear in the media field'' (Dornan,C. In Tsekeris, Ch. 2008: 29). Nonetheless, the messages that can be conveyed by a text are not always on the surface, or directly offered to the reader. A text conveys messages within its lines or between them, as described by Hall et al. (1997) referring to the concept of representation. In a wider, cultural level, meanings are decoded and transmitted with the creation of ''signs''; the creation of mental conceptions and the materialisation of them. (Saussure in Hall et al. 1997:38) By the time of the combination of these signs, representation has moved from the level of ''description'' to the level of ''interpretation of a social ideology'', achieving a close communication with culture, knowledge and ideology, as Barthes indicates. (1967 ibid. 1997:39) It is imperative, though, to distinguish among the different manifestations of representation. According to Hall et al. (ibid. 1997) representation can be a) reflective, which means that a message that already exists in the social and political environment is being transmitted by a medium, b) intentional, when the message simply expresses the author's - speaker's opinion or c) constructionist, when the language of a message is used in such a way that it formulates a meaning directly or indirectly. On the other hand, taking into account that decoding a meaning presupposes an active procedure of interpretation of language, which can be done over the course of time, we argue that depending on circumstantial factors, such as the socio-political discourse of a period, language can be imprecise. ''The meaning we take, as viewers, readers or audiences, is never exactly the meaning which has been given by the speaker or writer or by other viewers.'' (Hall et al. 1997:33)
However, apart from the language itself, meanings can be found in the morphology of a text, the use of punctuation, even in the elements that are not presented at all by the author.
One could discover the manifestation of stereotyping attitudes, prejudices and social discrimination even by informal means. ''The representation of a racist discourse can be achieved even in texts that militate against it'' (Konstantinidou, 2001:61) or even be expressed rhetorically. According to Konstantinidou (2001:61) in order for both the signifying practices to co-exist, one has to adopt either a passive-aggressive attitude by ''balancing'' the inter-contradicting opinions – in that way an ''objective'' approach is achieved- or draw clear lines between the two in the process of pagination.
Referring to stereotypes, it is a concept attributed to Lippman, W. who formed it in 1962 describing it as ''images inside our minds''. Stereotypes are cognitive constructs that form opinions and attitudes towards a social group and comprise an oversimplified way of its depiction. According to Fahmy (2004), most of the times these groups fit only one category. By over-generalising one single characteristic of an individual and attributing it to a whole social group, as Lester (1997) states, stereotyping is the best shortcut for someone to be described collectively rather than individually. Stereotypes are usually based upon reality; notwithstanding, they present only a fraction of it, in a distorted or negative sense, for the majority of times. According to the same author (ibid., 1997) the media act stereotypically because humanity acts in the same way by attempting to categorise its environment. The media tend to canalise individuals that belong in a different social group than ''us'', the majority, in specific categories; such examples are the categories of criminality, sports, cultural customs etc. that tend to materialise in the cases of minority, asylum seekers or merely immigrant groups. Stereotyping in the media reflects the perception of the mainstream ideology regarding the ''we'' and the ''other'', the socially ''acceptable'' or the ''unacceptable''. As Van Dijk (1987) underlines, forming an ideology is not an individual procedure, but rather the reflection of the social, economic and political standpoint of a society. Following this conception, the mainstream media news-making adopts the aforementioned stereotypes in order to keep up with the societal status; a fact that serves to maintain certain ideologies as well as cultivate them further. (Gohram: 2006) The establishment of these stereotypes is what facilitates social discrimination, since it offers a basis upon which societies are able to define ''diversity''. Diversity, in the meaning of otherness, is a term encountered in Aristotle's work
Supernatural, in the sense of ''race difference or substantial difference''. (Liddell et al. 2006)
According to the theory of social identity, the ''we'' is compared to the ''other'' in such a manner that the ''we'' is always projected as ''better'' or ''acceptable''. Comparing the theories of social identity and stereotyping, we tend to attach certain characteristics to individuals that do not belong in ''we'', so that whenever we receive a negative behaviour from an ''outsider'',
we perceive this negativity as an intrinsic characteristic of the outsider's group. (Gohram, 2006) As often encountered in the press, diversity, in the sense of the ''otherness'', can be intertwined with the race or the national identity. According to Maloutas et al. (2007: 65-66) the description of the bisector between the ''identity'' and the ''otherness'' is inevitably developed in national terms, a perception that persists, even though it clashes with multiple supranational definitions of identity in the era of cosmopolitanism, multiculturalism and diversity. As Balibar underlines (1991), even though identity is formed individually, it is still inextricably interwoven with the societal values, behaviourisms and collective symbols. ''Language and race suggests that the national character is existent in the soul of the people.'' (ibid. 1991:144) Therefore, the composition of one's national identity contains in its ''ingredients'' the concepts of the ''different'', the ''other'' and the ''alien'', as it is expressed in the political culture of a country, which although ever-shaping, it comprises a timeless entity. (ibid. 1991:148)
As far as the Greek national identity is regarded, many scholars agree that it is based upon the idea of the cultural and religious homogeneity. (Demertzis N., 1994) (Mouzelis, N. 1994) (Fragoudaki, A. et al, 1997) (Tsoukalas, K., 1987) ''Greek political culture seems to be ‘‘exclusive’’, mainly because of the limited nature of the political discourse and activity, which has obstructed the reformation of new, alternative collective identities'' (Tsagarousianou, 1994:338); a fact that is noticeably reflected in the Greek media and their formation. The dichotomy of the ''national self'' and the ''otherness'' appears only after the occurrence of the first migration flow, during the 90's, when the immigrants and other minorities enflesh the ''alien''. (Troumpeta, 2000) According to Maloutas et al. (2007) after Greece's integration in the EU, Greek national identity ''absorbs'' the characteristic of belonging in the ''western world'', attributing in that way a sense of inferiority to the notion of the ''other'', who is clearly invading in order to seek a better life within the country. By juxtaposing the mainstream Greek identity with the identity of the others, a certain ''Greekness'' is forming. The characteristics given to the identity of the others, though, are not always true or standing as they are formed by ''our'' interpretation of the ''other'' under specific circumstances that, as mentioned above, create a certain imprecision. Under this notion, one could conclude that an external definition of one's identity could end up to be misleading because of the misinterpretation of the other's identity.
These nexus of ''superiority'' and ''inferiority'', ''otherness'' and ''identity'', ''we'' and ''they'' are, formally or informally, shaped and formed by their representation in the media and will constitute the central axis of our dissertation.
4. Research Strategy & Methodology / Delimitations & Material Selection
4.1 Research Strategy
This dissertation will be the product of a qualitative, case-oriented study. One could argue that a quantitative study employing content analysis, instead, would have been suitable, in order to achieve a holistic picture of the phenomenon by investigating certain variable appearances in the wider media field. On the other hand, such an attempt was deemed to be more time-consuming, comparing to the time we had available, as well as it would not focus on the matter through the perspective that the author was seeking to shed light into. Our aim is to investigate into the mainstream press for patterns and keywords that serve a certain image-making or create certain correlations between the immigrants and the phenomena, with the aid of the social discourses in the specific time frame of the research.
For the purposes of this study, we intend to use primary material, namely articles extracted from the mainstream, best-selling newspapers of the Greek press that handle the matter of immigration. Nonetheless, because it is our intention to set off for our investigation by giving an ample background of the media images, so that the reader will be informed of the variability of the phenomenon in the course of the years, secondary material, found in prior research, will be employed as well, since articles dated before 2000 are not yet digitalised; a fact that limits our study, since we are not able to visit the media archives ourselves in the country of their origin.
4.2 Methodology & Delimitations
The approach of this research, its theoretical background notwithstanding, will be inductive. It is noted that “inductive reasoning is often referred to as a “bottom-up” approach to knowing, in which the researcher uses observations to build an abstraction or to describe a picture of the phenomenon that is being studied” (Lodico et al, 2010:10). All conclusions will be driven by the gathered material, as presented in the course of this thesis. As we do not seek to test a hypothesis, we intend to observe the phenomenon of negative image-making and the
representation of the immigrants in the news-making of the mainstream Greek press and draw our inferences regarding any patterns or common practices noticed after the material analysis has taken place. As stated by Goddard and Melville (2004) an inductive approach starts with the observations while the inferences are formulated towards the end of the research and as a result of observations. Neuman (2003) affirms inductive research to commence with detailed observations of a system or a phenomenon, which eventually moves towards more abstract generalisations and ideas. Even though, we rely on the material analysis in order to rationalise our conclusions, therefore the core of our investigation depends on the content of the selected articles, our perspective is driven by concepts found in our theoretical framework.
In order for our study to be valid and reliable we are going to deploy, what in the journalist's language is called, the 'inverted pyramid system', which we will use, though, in a retroductive6 way in order to serve the purposes of our research. This means that, since our goal is to interrogate the concept of immigration's negative imaging in the Greek press (general phenomenon), we attempt to dive into the analysis of certain axes of the phenomenon, as presented in numerous articles (specific samples) of the press, in order to, eventually, draw our conclusions, travelling back to our initial entry point. Following 'the inverted pyramid system' we allow ourselves to move through different grades of the scale of generality, following the syllogism general-specific-general.
6 A term used by Blaikie (2000) to describe the research carried out in stages, travelling back and forth from theories to empirics and from the general field to signled-out cases, in order to make inferences regarding the general phenomenon.
In order to clarify the strategy depicted in the scheme above, we need to elaborate on the classification of our material. Having studied researches conducted by media and social sciences scholars (which were presented in the chapter: Prior Research), we identified the most recurring themes in media news-making regarding immigrants and their negative representation in the Greek press. Following their steps, in order to obtain a representative proportion of the phenomenon we wish to investigate, we have selected three of the most recurring axes to extract articles from:
Immigrants and the impact on unemployment rates.
Immigrants bearing national symbols- the case of the Greek flag in national parades. Immigrants and their involvement in criminal acts.
These 3 axes will be presented one by one, accompanied by a number of articles outlining the issue, each comprising a different section in the material analysis chapter.
Within these articles we aspire to investigate patterns of representations by tracing words or phrases of common use that illustrate and convey a certain portrait of immigrants, true to the strategy of the text analysis. Text analysis is a method widely used in the social sciences and humanities in order to ''make inferences by systematically identifying special characteristics of the messages'' (Holstie, 1968: 608) lying in artifacts of social communication, such as texts, images, recordings and every other means that can be transformed into text. By using the method of text analysis, a researcher is able to go through large amounts of texts in an attempt to categorise the information given and identify patterns of key words that are conveying certain messages.
Even though, text analysis is a key-tool for our media investigation, we find it insufficient to describe and explain the phenomenon of the negative imaging of immigration in the Greek press without correlating the article with the wider social discourse. It is for this reason that we endeavour to discuss the social environment and political entourage of the articles at the time of their publication, aiming at a holistic analysis of the phenomenon. What is more, key-concepts deriving from our theoretical background, such us the dichotomies of the ''identity'' and the ''otherness'', ''we'' and ''they'', ''superiority'' and ''inferiority'' and the stereotyping procedure will comprise the core of our material analysis and will be accordingly highlighted. Nevertheless, true to Hall's statements -as they are mentioned in the Theoretical Framework chapter-, we will also be looking at the writing style of the articles as meanings may be found cloaked between the lines of a text.
4.3
Resource Selection
The criteria of selection of the articles that we will be using during our analysis are:
I. The geographical reach of the press media, since it is imperative that the newspapers were within reach for the whole population. Matters such as migration seem to have different meanings, impacts and generate different reactions, geographically speaking. The local press and the local public opinion in the mainland shows deviations when compared to the capital press or the island press. Aiming for the mainstream image, we are selecting articles from the newspapers that are (were) being published throughout the land.
II. The percentage of the sales of the selected press media in order to ensure that they were available to the largest possible proportion of the Greek citizens. Since it is our goal to present the mainstream portrayal, we intend to use articles from the best-selling newspapers during the period of each incident.
III. The nature of the content of the articles. So as not to emphasise merely on extreme cases, we have selected material that is not only consisted of extreme actions that call for extreme public reactions such as hideous crimes, rapes etc. This is why during the course of our analysis, we will present the reader with a section concerning a) immigrants and the bearing of Greek national symbols (e.g the Greek flag in national parades.) b) immigrants and 'underground economy' that influences unemployment rates and c) immigrants and their involvement in criminality.
IV. The time frame of the articles will attempt to cover a variety of incidents taking as a point of departure the peak of the immigration flow in the 90's and moving towards contemporary incidents.
V. The political agenda of the selected newspapers. Even though the truth is that the vast majority of the Greek media is held by only a handful of corporations, we shall endeavour to provide the reader with articles extracted by the mainstream newspapers on the market whose political affiliations vary between the left to the central-right.
VI. The readability of the articles, the publicity of the cases and the characteristics of the articles. We have encountered numerous articles fitted for our research, being in the classification of the three recurring themes we have selected. Nonetheless, the nature
of the articles and the publicity they triggered have played a major role in the process of the selection. We have chosen to analyse articles from cases that have energised discourses, so much in the Greek media as well as the social media at the time of their occurrence, when applicable. What is more, while collecting our material, we had to carefully choose among numerous articles of the same newspaper discussing the same issue. In order to make the best out of each case and gather as much material for our analysis as possible, we have selected articles whose body text would provide us with a large amount of information. The list of all the articles employed for our analysis will be presented below.
4.4 Media Outlets
As stated above, the best-selling newspapers (as a secondary material or in their digital form) have been selected as our material to be analysed. Namely, we shall extract articles by Ta Nea, To Vima, To Ethnos, I Eleutherotipia, I Kathimerini and To Proto Thema. Ta Nea and To Vima are considered of the first and most 'long-lived' newspapers in Greece, publish by DOL (Dimosiografikos Omilos Labraki), “the biggest company in the Greek media industry” (www.dol.gr). I Eleutherotipia, is one of the best-selling evening newspapers and even though the company had to shut down for a few years due to financial issues, its online site remain intact and the newspaper went back on the market on January 2013. To Proto Thema has been the best-selling Sunday newspaper for years, namely since it was founded in 2005. I Kathimerini is also a popular newspaper, first published in 1919, holding a large percentage of the Greek readers especially in its weekend version, I Kathimerini tis Kiriakis.
4.5 List of the selected articles (in order of appearance)
Title of the Article Newspaper Date of Publication Journalist
Unemployment: An open wound. Foreigners in job positions unwanted by the locals.
Ta Nea 01/11/85 -
The aliens of Western Athens: Polish, Indians and Pakistanis find jobs more easily and are better rewarded.
Ta Nea 08/05/95 -
Rapid increase of the black labour..One out of four wage earners is an illegal immigrant
Ta Nea 17/11/95 -
The big and unsolved problems call for pressing solutions
Eleutherotypia 21/09/09 Manolis Drettakis
1.000.000 unemployed in
Greece and still counting Eleutherotypia Kiriakatiki 07/02/10 Dimitra Kadda Immigration and
Unemployment I Kathimerini 22/10/13 -
Oscure economy, black market and illegal immigrants are over the roof
I Kathimerini 06/06/13 -
Even the Filipinos are
abandoning Greece To Proto Thema 23/12/14 Katerina Faka Self-explanatory thoughts
about the immigration problem To Proto Thema 16/04/15 Politis Ioannis Who must carry the flag... I Kathimerini 22/10/04 Eleni Bitsika Alien students as flag bearers I Kathimerini 26/10/08 Diamanti Ioanna An Albanian child bears the
flag-The Greeks abstain from the parade
I Kathimerini 27/10/01
Indignant parents of the elementary schools don't want Albanian nationals to carry the Greek flag
Eleutherotypia 21/03/13 Papavasiliou Nikos
The flag of the parade
bifurcated the town of Kalives in Poligiros
To Vima 15/03/09 Bitsika Panagiota
girl as flag bearer, we will call the Golden Dawn
They killed him while he was taking his wife to the hospital to bear their child
To Proto Thema 10/05/11 -
Life sentence for the Afghans for the brutal murder of M. Kantaris
To Proto Thema 25/09/12 Kokkali Vassiliki
The two Afghans confessed the
murder of M. Kantaris To Vima 19/05/11 Labropoulos Vasilis The murder of an elderly
woman in Exarheia has been resolved
To Vima 30/05/14 -
The thieves with the irons cause fear and terror: All the activity of the Georgian torturers
To Proto Thema 28/12/14 Popotas Dimitris
Life sentence for the monster
will not heal Myrto's wounds To Proto Thema 28/01/14 Karathanou Eleni Alert for the influx of Jihadists I Kathimerini 26/04/15 Souliotis Ioannis
They killed him for 120 Euros To Ethnos 19/05/11 -
5. Material Analysis
5.1 Immigrants and the impact on unemployment rates.
In this chapter the immigrants’ alleged involvement with the unemployment rates and the 'underground economy' that lead to their increase, will be thoroughly analysed. We have decided to start our material analysis by introducing this part of the negative imaging triptych first because it seems to be the first theme that occupied the Greek press as soon as the first migration flow reached the country.
As mentioned by Fani Kountouris (2008) in her own research regarding immigrant images in the press from 1950 until 2005, the first article to be occupied with immigration matters was published in the newspaper Ta Nea in 1985, under the title ''Unemployment: an
open wound. Foreigners in job positions unwanted by the locals''. Right from the very first words of this article the reader follows the thread of the journalist's thoughts ''unemployment'', ''wound'', ''foreigners'', followed by the vivid subtitle ''Alien workers occupy Greek job positions.'' (Ta Nea, 1/11/1985 in Kountouris, F. 2008) In the same article, we read that the source of this evidence is the major general of the immigration department, a public figure in a significant position, who has provided the journalist with statistics, regarding the increasing employment of foreign workers in comparison with the free vacancies left for the Greek working hands. The language used in this article, especially the dramatisation sketching the title and subtitle, sets the picture straight for the reader; foreigner's integration in the Greek market is presented as a ''wound'', therefore conveying a message of a problematic situation, and the representation of the 'other' against 'us' is evident through the choice of words ''aliens/foreigners'', ''coloured'', ''Greeks'', ''locals''.
Ten years after the first reportage, we encounter another article by the same newspaper entitled: ''the aliens of western Athens: Polish, Indians and Pakistanis find jobs more easily and are better rewarded.'' (Ta Nea 08/05/1995 in Kountouris, F. 2008) In this article, we read three subtitles, regarding mass influxes of illegal immigrants and 'underground economy' infesting the country's economy. Indicatively, one of the subtitles reads ''It is all underground economy's fault!''. Reading through the article we spot phrases such as ''illegal migration'', ''underground economy'' and ''criminality''. As mentioned by the creator of this article, his sources were immigrants themselves as well as the General Confederation of Labour in Greece. What is worth-mentioning about this article and the transition of the newspaper's arthrography during these ten years, is the selection of the sources as well as the consequences of the phenomenon. In the first attempt, the source commenting on immigration had been a representative of a public authority and his views regarding the job market whereas in the second article we witness the involvement of social and political partners as well as the immigrants themselves concerning the causes and the consequences of the phenomenon in the wider social environment. A few months later, we encounter another article of the same newspaper under the title ''Rapid increase of the black labour.. One out of four wage-earners is an illegal immigrant.'' (Ta Nea 17/11/1995 in Kountouris F. 2008) Unlike the other two articles, in this one the main idea of the text is already sketched in the title. This article indicates, at the era of the concerns about unemployment's increasing rates, that 25% of the working force in Greece is consisted of illegal immigrants. While the title is so abruptly written, there is unclear differentiation between economy and underground economy nor illegal immigrants and immigrants. Additionally, throughout the article we only encounter the
term ''illegal'' instead of ''irregular'' or any other term that might come across as a milder connotation.
Moving on to more current publications in 2009, Manolis Drettakis, journalist and former chairman of the Greek parliament, in his article ''the big and unsolved problems call for pressing solutions'' on behalf of Eleutherotypia, comments on the programmes and plans that the running parties make just a few months before the national elections. Amongst the problems that call for immediate actions, that we can find numbered in the text, we read: ''corruption, tax evasion, government loans and the financial deficit [...] the immigrants, the relations between Greece and Turkey...''. In this article the layout along with the word selection is of great importance. All the 'hot' problems of the country are numbered and roughly described in little paragraphs. Each paragraph commences by the use of the name of each issue, e.g Corruption. Out of the eight major issues ''The immigrants'' is one. It is important to notice that even though the journalist continues by commenting on the insufficient migration policies of the state, the starting phrase of the paragraph acknowledges the immigrants as the problem. The rhetoric of the ''we'' and the ''other'' is evident in the next sentences regarding the issue of immigration since the journalist mentions that ''their'' (the immigrants') children will at some point be integrated in the Greek society among the ''Greek children''. In order to present the reader with the social discourse and the events of that time, it is imperative to shed light to the background as well: The years 2008-2009, Greece officially declared that is heading towards bankruptcy and the first moves in order to acquire its first loan from the European Central Bank are set in motion. During these times, the whole national press, as well as the public, is turned towards matters of the national economy, the causes, the consequences and the future plans. At the same time national elections are due on October 2009, a month after this article is written. Taken these facts into account, we realise that the electoral campaigns of the parties along with the press are focused on matters of high importance, especially when it comes to the economy of the state that is collapsing day by day.
One year later, and while the press is still covered in articles regarding the national economy, we find Dimitra's Kadda article, in the Sunday version of Eleutherotipia, under the title '' One million unemployed in Greece and still counting''. The title as well as the whole text body informs the readers about the ''actual'' situation of the unemployment rates in Greece, since as the journalist states, ''in reality, the unemployment is reaching double the rates that the statistics show, since they ''bypass'' the truth'' (subtitle of the article). In the conclusion of the article, and while we are presented with various views and statistics, we
come across the ''wound'' of ''black economy'' consisted of ''700.000 workers, on conservative measurements, the majority of which are immigrants'' that contributes to the ill situation of the employment sector.(I Kiriakatiki Eleutherotypia, 07/02/2010) Looking at the wording of this text, once more we encounter the word ''wound'' which is popular in the Greek arthrography, when it comes to vividly present a problematic notion or phenomenon. In this case, immigrants play their role in the economy's disintegration and they seem to appear in this context in all of the above articles, as well as the ones to follow in our analysis. This relationship between the obscure economy and the immigrants seems to be a recurring phenomenon in the Greek press, whether the articles’ main theme is immigration or matters that orbit around the country's economic situation. Apart from the selection of words, though, an interesting fact is the appearance of the immigrants and their contribution to the unemployment rates even when the article is aimed at a different subject. ''Immigration and Unemployment'' is an article published in I Kathimerini in 2013. Even though the title seems to allude to another association of the immigrants with the economic decay, the journalist is keener on ''attacking'' the current political regime of the Greek market. While at it, though, we encounter the phrase ''we have as many unemployed Greeks as illegal immigrants'' which combined with the article's title leads us to contemplate on whether the job positions that immigrants have in the obscure market (being illegal immigrants, it would not be possible for them to be employed within the legal framework) are positions that the unemployed Greeks have been deprived of. Following the arthrography of the same newspaper we find the article ''Obscure economy, Black market and illegal immigrants are over the roof'' (06/06/2013) which sets the scene with statistics regarding the matters described in the title. In the first sentences of the main text we find the phrase ''our country holds the negative first position in illegal immigrants engaged in the market with a percentage of 4.4%'' followed by other evidence of how the obscure and black market contribute to the paralysation of the country's economy. At this stage, an interesting point to be made regarding the use of language is the different phrasing of ''illegal immigrants'' in the Greek language. During the 1980's and the 1990's we came across the use of lathrometanastis which in Greek bears the notion of
clandestine/contraband whereas in more current publications we observe a shift to the use of
the word paranomos which means illegal. In none of the cases above, though, have we encountered the phraseology paratypos, meaning irregular.
While looking into the publications of the newspaper To Proto Thema, we come across a different, more sarcastic presentation of the reality and the “other”. On 23/12/2014 Katerina Faka, in her article ''Even the Filipinos are abandoning Greece.'' (‘‘Disappointed by the
country's situation” is the supplementary title) is describing the current situation of Filipino immigrants in Greece and the reasons they decide to either immigrate further or repatriate. In order to look into the article in detail, we ought to start from its picture.
The picture shows a group of Filipino adolescents possibly ready to play a kind of sport in a public court or playground. The young man at the front of the picture is wearing a T-shirt that reads ''Hellas'' and a stamp of the Greek flag. This raises the connotation of foreign nationals bearing the national symbols, which is a theme that will be discussed thoroughly in the next chapter of our analysis. Turning our attention to the title and subtitle of the article we come across the word akoma , which means even that carries a certain tone of sarcasm if not a latent message of the inferiority of the immigrants situation in comparison with the Greek people that immigrate at the same time because of the same reasons. It is imperative to underline that in 2014, Triantafillidou conducted a research according to which the Greek population that immigrates in popular destinations (except the U.S) has been increased by 12.4%, id est 60.227 people. (Triantafillidou, 2014) The use of the word even in this context presents the self-explanatory move of immigrants to further migrate or its little importance when compared to the decision of the Greek population to flee because of the unemployment rates and the low income. Furthermore, the article's main body commences with a quote by the chairman of Greek Association of the Work Recruitment Agencies Owners that reads as follows: ''They are leaving because we pampered them. No foreigner was earning 1.300 euros.'' In this quote the stereotyping and the rhetoric of ''we'' and ''they'' are evident via the use of they and foreigner but as well through the word pampered which expresses a certain notion of magnanimity by the Greek employers who sheltered these Filipinos. The article describes the reasons why Filipinos are leaving Greece, mainly because of the decrease of
their salaries, while emphasising on the amount of money they used to earn or currently demand, or their concordant disappointment which leads them to immigrate further. The article states that the Filipinos, the majority of which were mainly employed in indoor workplaces (usually as maids), used to earn 1.300 euros per month and still demand at least 1.000 euros or decline job positions for 800 euros; meanwhile ''Greek women are queuing for these kinds of jobs, which are not pejorative anymore and instead are being treated as opportunities for their livelihood, even though they are Bachelor's graduates.'' (To Proto Thema, 23/12/2014) The message conveyed in these lines creates an image of a rather unfair competition between ''us'' (the Greeks) and ''them'' (the Filipinos /foreigners) as well as a provocative representation of the immigrants as ungrateful while in the background of this event the minimum wage in Greece is defined at the 511 euros per month (net) and the theme of the Greek brain drain is emerging and expanding at the Greek media.
Finally, there are also the opinion articles that are hosted by the newspapers and their online sites that set a certain landscape. Such an article is the ''Self-explanatory thoughts about the immigration problem'', written by Politis G. on behalf of the newspaper To Proto Thema less than a month ago. In this article, the writer appears to be somewhere in between sympathising with the immigrants as well as the locals for the state of their country and their own individual one. Quoting from the text: ''The sympathy, term that derives from the word
sym-pasho, meaning suffer along with the other, is self-evident when it comes to people that
have left their homelands in search of a better life. So is the recognition that the West is responsible for the geopolitical 'games' in their territories and the financial burden on the Third World.'' (To Proto Thema, 16/04/2015) This passive-aggressive attempt of the writer is reflected in the whole body of the text where the reader is presented with the image of Greece being amongst other Western countries (applying a concealed meaning of a modernised country, superior to the ones of the Third World) while at the same time being a small country with a decreasing GDP that should not bear the responsibility as other western countries should for the woes of the countries that immigrants come from. ''Its hospitality, without having any moral obligation, is leading the country to impoverishment'' being the last sentence of the article, it is evident that a small western country (supremacy) is sickening itself because of its good will and because it is falsely responsible for the poor fate of people from the Third World (inferiority).
In order to summarise, in this section we analysed the mainstream press coverage of immigrants and their impact in unemployment rates and the underground economy. An
interesting fact about this theme is that it appeared to be the first to occupy the Greek press as soon as the first migration flow entered the country. In most of the articles selected, we encounter the correlation between immigrants and the obscure economy that pests the country, deteriorating the health of the economy system while creating employment gaps and taxing issues. Immigration is presented as a problematic situation and the press is mostly focusing on the nationality of the immigrants or their share in the market rather than the immigration policies of the government and the measures taken. The words ''wound'' and ''problem'' intensify this concept while ''they'', ''immigrants'', ''aliens'', ''foreigners'' against, ''locals'', ''Greek working hands'' and ''our own'' project the rhetoric of the ''we'' against the ''other''. When the financial crisis is officially declared, articles published regarding unemployment still mention immigrants in an attempt to compare their influence to the consequences of the recession. What is more, we encounter journalists' attempts to address the ungratefulness of the immigrants fleeing the country in a time of need, because they do not earn as much as they used to, adding up to the rhetoric of racial superiority/inferiority, since they treat the matter by comparing the magnanimous Greeks versus the in need, though unthankful, Filipinos.
5.2 Immigrants bearing national symbols- the case of the Greek flag in National parades.
In this part of our analysis, we will look into the matter of flag-bearing in national parades during the national celebrations on the 25th of March and the 28th of October. In order to set the picture for the reader, before going into the media analysis, we should briefly describe the context of this discourse.
In Greece, there are two national celebrations. The first one (on the 25th of March) originates from the revolution of 1821 that led to the overthrow of the Ottoman Empire. The other one (on the 28th of October) has its roots on the Greek-Italian war in 1940, the then government's refusal to surrender and, eventually, the victory of the Greek army. Ever since, Greece's total independence and the formation of the Constitution , these two days have been named as national celebrations and it is on these days that students from every school along with the army force hold parades in every town of the mainland and the islands of the country,
in a manner of national pride. According to the laws of the Ministry of Education in Greece (Αρ.Πρωτ.Φ.10/610/118443/Γ1/14-10-2011/ΥΠΔΒΜΘ ), regarding student parades on these days, ''the student having the best grades in the school is the one that is elected as the flag-bearer of the school''.7
National parades have always reached the news as a matter of national pride and historic revival until incidents, where the best-graded student of a school was a foreigner, occurred. The thought of someone non-Greek bearing such a national symbol as the flag in parades whose whole meaning relied on the national pride was non-existent, only until after immigrants from the first migration flow got established in the country, formed their own families, found ways to make a living and, eventually, sent their children to Greek schools. These incidents attracted even more publicity since the first immigrant children to meet the requirements of bearing the flag were Albanian nationals. Their ethnicity, in this case, ignited the discourse even more since it brought in the foreground a paradox. During the Greek-Italian war in 1940, the Greek army had fought against the Greek-Italian forces that had, at that time, allied with the Albanians. Following this syllogism, the public opinion and the press alongside had to deal with a dilemma; the law dictates that the student with the best grades should bear the flag, regardless of their nationality. But, can a foreign national bear the national symbol in a parade of national pride even though his nationality excludes him from such an event? According to an article in the newspaper To Vima (05/11/2000) there had been several people in charge that tried to find a solution to this problematic situation; teachers primed Greek students with higher grades in order for such incidents not to occur or had to put on a fight with parents' associations and teachers' councils over the matter or even elected politicians questioned the law and asked for its reformation.
This situation has been presented in various versions as a recurring theme in the Greek press, ever since an incident or multiple incidents occurred twice a year, in a way of distinguishing between ''the Greek nation'' and ''the others''. For the purposes of our analysis, we have selected reportages and opinion articles describing this theme.
Eleni Bitsika, a journalist on behalf of I kathimerini, published her article, under the title ''Who must carry the flag...''(22/10/2004) in a rather prominent space of the newspaper (the permanent columns8) in an attempt to describe the phenomenon and express her views. In the opening of the text we read: ''every year the debate flares up over this controversial issue'',
7 Aditional information regarding the grading and classification system of the Greek education system have been ommitted.
