Gabriel Chatzinopoulos is a young journalist that works for Thestival online media in Greece. I had the chance to talk to him about the challenges and future of journalism, the issues that have arisen throughout the pandemic and the "phenomenon" of fake news.
You work for almost a year as a journalist in Thestival online newspaper, in Thessaloniki, Greece. In recent years, journalism is increasingly based on online content. How much did you alter the way you work in the last months, during the pandemic? Did you face any significant challenges?
In general, online journalism is very demanding. There are time limitations and deadlines so that you can write each reportage that you edit on time. Of course, there are moments when we fill these gaps, but this depends on the content of the reportage and it is very rare. In the coronavirus time, the circumstances in my position have changed. The positive effect is that besides the fact that my job is demanding, the people are very understanding and we work as a team every day, which is very important in the working environment. Being in an active media environment, we allowed the option to work remotely. However, I did not prefer it and as a result, I chose to carefully go to work daily. I believe that my productivity is less when working from home. Besides, being in contact with someone in person was a necessity more than ever, even if this just included going to and returning from work or the supermarket.
Another thing that changed was the topics of our newspaper, which became more specified. We mainly focus on topics about the pandemic and less on other everyday news, which had been my main field of interest. The character of our occupation is that you cannot simply dismiss this kind of topic and not contribute to the general coverage. Moreover, we form our reportages through telephone and Skype communication. In that way, we have more time and we can be constantly in contact with our sources of information. Also, with the new situation that the coronavirus has brought, I am writing about health issues, something that I always wanted to do but had hesitated. In the end, I appreciated the opportunity and learned many things, for example, that the new situation brought up issues such as domestic violence. As for the challenges, every transitional period is important and we ought to be present to every change.
Describe briefly the situation that a young person is facing during the recent months.
To begin with, if a young person is active in social media these days they need to exercise a level of constraint. I work in favor of freedom of speech, democracy, and free will. But our free speech needs to be just a personal opinion and not a groundless argument, which often happens amongst young people of a similar age to me. The new situation is strange and I understand that its handle differs from one another. It depends on the way that we behave and on our characters.
I struggle with the fact that I cannot see my family and the people that I love. Also, with my friends, besides the lack of time due to our jobs, I miss them more than ever. I would suggest that we should be less focussed on the actions of others and more on our own. These changes show us that nothing is permanent and that everything can change in a glimpse. If we are healthy though, we can cope with these circumstances with a smile and positivity.
Did you adopt a new way of life, better or worse, due to these changes?
If the new situation has led only me to adopt new behavior then we have a problem! For starters, I’m using hand-sanitizer a lot (as are most of us) and I have a backpack on my way out. In my living room, I have masks, gloves, and other “weapons” against the virus. Before the pandemic, you would not see this. However, I think the sanitizer will accompany me for a long time. Still, I do not think that I overreact but I am very careful, at first to not transmit it to other people, and secondly to not get sick myself. I definitely became more conscious about cleaning and I started cooking Mediterranean foods, which I didn’t do in the past due to the lack of time. Nevertheless, I do not exercise as much as I would like to.
What is the value of positive behavior in our everyday lives (especially these days)? What is the positive aftermath that we can profiteer from?
It is necessary now more than ever to keep up with positive thoughts. I think that being positive helps a lot in our everyday lives and a lot of the time we don’t realize that. Moreover, this also helps the people around us. From this situation, I see many possible positive outcomes. As people, we tend to take many things for granted. For example, as I mentioned before, we feel that we will live forever. Now, being healthy is valued more than ever!
During the pandemic, there were many times that I procrastinated to do many things. Something like this is happening in our everyday lives and we need to keep in mind that we cannot always follow the plan. The matters of behavior, routine, and the fact that we will not ever face health issues are crucial issues.
Another positive aspect that I have noticed through my news stories is that some families have been brought closer. The relationships between the members of many families that I know were developed because people managed to get to know each other, through living, and spending time together. In every situation, there are positive and negative effects. What matters is to try to be as positive as possible and be authentic, respecting one another because we are not alone in this world.
- These days I have made many objections to fake news and sometimes I was directly told that the media’s purpose is to spread fear! -According to a recent study at the International Peace Journalism Laboratory in Thessaloniki, Greece, 62% of Greek citizens have been online “victims” of fake news during the pandemic. How would you comment on this “phenomenon”? Have you been personally a victim of fake news?
Unfortunately, I appreciate that the numbers might be higher because some of us haven’t noticed or we do not want to admit it. It is a situation for which I was being put in high pressure. During these days the social media environment has been bombarded by inaccuracies and lies (sometimes by mistake and some other times on purpose). This is a fact that increases during circumstances like this (in panic and emotional space) and where our community is more vulnerable. We should not always believe that what we read is true, especially when there are not reliable sources.
I would like to see more responsibility for media professionals. These days I have made many objections to fake news and sometimes I was directly told that the media’s purpose is to spread fear! This was a shock for me, spoken by a person that I admire but at the same time, I finally realized the truth.
To be honest, I believe that still, I haven’t been a victim of fake news because I have learned to read carefully and cross information and sources. I am now very careful because the fear of syndication is evident. Frontline journalists have made the same mistake. I want to believe that this happens mostly due to the lack of time. At the same time though, I think there needs to be tolerance even in those cases, and we need first to be strict with ourselves.
What expectations do you have for the future and how do you think that things will develop?
I am very optimistic about the future if we want to develop as people. Life is full of difficulties and challenges. Especially in our occupation there is a lot of competition but we need to be willing to learn and of course there will be things that we will be proud of. This is what I have learned through my small experience in this job so far. Things will not always be ideal but I am not in favor of the logic of quitting. I feel that in the future with respect for ourselves and the others we can develop.
Can you give a message to the young people that want to follow journalism in these times?
I would like to say that our occupation is one of the most interesting ones, but only if you have a passion for it. I expect to see young journalists like me, with even little experience, to believe in themselves but at the same time to not be overambitious. They should be down to earth and not be biased. In general, I would like us, the young media professionals, to investigate more about the news that we write about. In any case, there will be some negative comments but what matters is the quality of the information posted.