Greece: Syriza, austerity and the media

Will the new Greek government dismantle the old media networks? Plus, covering the new power structures in Yemen.


Greece has just elected a left-wing coalition party called Syriza led by the new Prime Minister, Alexis Tsipras. Politicians are known to make campaign promises that would be hard to keep if voted into government, but even by those standards Tsipras's rhetoric was audacious. He said: "We are going to destroy the oligarchy system" - a noteworthy statement given the $260bn Greece owes to its European creditors after two bailouts.

Syriza's compelling victory came despite the negative coverage that it received during the campaign. Many news organisations in Greece are subsidiaries of companies owned by the oligarchs Tsipras has pledged to "destroy". Now that Syriza has been elected some of those outlets have begun to alter their coverage but whether the new government will be able to dismantle the old power structures, is the pending question in the world's oldest democracy.