ThePressProject.net – A new Independent Source of information about Greece

Vassaras.gr suggests ThePressProject.net to all English speaking followers, as an independent, reliable source of information about Greece.

Let them speak for themselves and discribe who they are and what they do.

We need to talk about Greece.
ThePressProject was founded right as the crisis that would eventually sweep Europe, first landed in Greece. It was born out of necessity: when a discussion began in the rest of the world about the euro zone and its viability, established local media adhered to choices promoted by the government and the country’s international lenders as the only way out of the crisis. It rose to the occasion by challenging the atheroslerotic narrative. By doing the news free of stereotypes, with clarity, reason and facts.

In Greece, more than anywhere else, the model for financing mass media is problematic. The bigger, established media belong to either major construction or shipping companies, which, as they vie for state contracts, have been perennially entangled with successive governments. Moreover, the economic crisis of the past years dramatically reduced spending in advertising. The biggest television and radio stations today are bankrupt and on the brink of collapse but more importantly have lost the battle for credibility.

ThePressProject disputes the existing financial model and pursues alternative ways to secure funding. It does not accept advertising from Greek banks or government organizations (since such sources of advertising in Greece have been linked to manipulation of information) and is making an effort to rely on its readers/audience. Its power lies with its audience. In just two years, TPP has been receiving almost two million unique visits each month, in a country where Internet connections are less than five million. For its international edition, TPP needs more support from all those who want to know what is really going on in the country with the gravest crisis in Europe.

ThePressProject was first to publish the Greek diplomatic cables from Wikileaks, produced a documentary about the crisis (‘Debtocracy’), which was seen around the globe (more than two million views on YouTube, Vimeo, Dailymotion) and kept the public broadcaster ERT alive, providing it with media servers when the government decided to shut it down overnight. At the moment, only thanks to TPP can one watch, both in Greece and abroad, the broadcasts still being produced by the ex-staff of ERT.

As the crisis grew, so did people’s need for real journalism and consequently ThePressProject, responding to the need for a different voice. We hope that with your help we will be able to offer a different view of what is happening in Greece. Maybe at some point it might concern you as well.

About TPP

Journalism, mind you, is not over. It’s only beginning. To be precise, it’s rebooting: investigations, dissent, swift reflexes, independence from political parties / vested interests / governments, revelations, holding every power to account, credibility.

We are picking up the baton from where the old masters of the investigative journalism trade left it. From where they were forced to abandon it by media barons, steeped in crony capitalism, beholden to advertisers, over reliant on the easy money of a stock exchange bubble and later mired in debt and unreliability.

ThePressProject enters a new phase. It has successfully completed its first cycle of experimental intervention. Of course, we will keep on experimenting, but at a higher level, with more resources, better organization, professionalism and infrastructure, with more pluralism, but with the same devilish spirit of fun, humour and inventiveness.

With the prestige of good, old-fashioned newspapers. With the speed and the warm interaction of radio. With the power of moving image and sound documentation. With the freshness of glossy magazines. With the authority of an academic journal. With the rush of a collective. With the dynamism of the web, relieved from teething problems.

On top of that, new packaging: not just shiny wrapping but a modern technological environment that pools multiples layers of reading, documentation, alternative ways of access from varied devices, combinations of text and video, audio, dynamic infographics and multimedia.

» Investigations
» Daily news feed
» Video interviews
» Political analysis
» Established columnists
» Live coverage of events with constant updates
» Documentation
» Enhanced interaction
» International collaborations
» New architecture and aesthetics.

If it is not clear yet, we aspire, when we grow up, to become a transmedia news organization. For now, ThePressProject is being transformed into an umbrella under which we cohabit and are gestating all this. Consider yourself part of it – as of now, you’re in the know.
Monday 14 October 2013
© 2010-2014 ThePressProject.net