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Athens ex-pats need Taki

After 57 years, Athens News, an English language paper for expats, is facing a fate worse than the Elgin marbles. Its proprietor, the Lambrakis Press, is set to pull the plug. The paper is a lynchpin of the British expat community and desperate attempts are being made to save it. Surely there’s a poor little Greek boy with deep pockets out there – step forward Taki?

The letters published in the 3 October edition are now available as a PDF on the newspaper’s website. Alternatively, you can view the pages here: What our readers think of us

Your immediate and overwhelming support to the Athens News has saved the day. An earlier decision to close the newspaper before selling it has been reversed, and we shall now continue publication, seamlessly going over to a new owner without missing a beat.

Hundreds of emails, faxes and letters have arrived in under a week from all over the world petitioning for our extension, and at last count over 1,600 people had signed our online petition.  Our publisher’s phone has been ringing with investor interest.

All this betokens two things – the groundswell of support that exists within the thinking commuity for this newspaper, and the intrinsic value that the market sees in it. It is a heartening response in an age of declining newspaper sales and the rise of infotainment at the expense of real journalism. The entire staff joins me in thanking you, our readers, friends and supporters for your solidarity, which played the decisive role in keeping this newspaper alive.

John Psaropoulos
Editor
Athens News

3 Christou Lada Street
Athens 102 37

Tel. +30 210 33.33.705
Fax  +30 210 33.33.706
www.athensnews.gr

The full statement from ESIEA reads:

ΔΙΑΒΗΜΑ ΓΙΑ ΤΟ “ATHENS NEWS”

30 Σεπτεμβρίου 2008

Την πλήρη κατοχύρωση των δικαιωμάτων των εργαζομένων στην εφημερίδα « ATHENS NEWS » απαιτεί η ΕΣΗΕΑ με επιστολή που έστειλε σήμερα στον κ. Σταύρο Ψυχάρη.

Όπως ανακοίνωσε στους εργαζόμενους ο διευθυντής της ιστορικής εφημερίδας, αναστέλλεται η έκδοσή της από την προσεχή Παρασκευή.

Το Δ.Σ. της ΕΣΗΕΑ έχει ζητήσει επειγόντως συνάντηση με τους εκπροσώπους του ΔΟΛ.

Στη σχετική επιστολή του Δ.Σ. της ΕΣΗΕΑ αναφέρεται ότι:

«Ιδιαίτερη ανησυχία προκαλεί η αιφνιδιαστική απόφαση, που γνωστοποίησαν στο Δ.Σ. της Ενώσεως συνάδελφοί μας, ότι επίκειται διακοπή έκδοσης της ιστορικής εφημερίδας « ATHENS NEWS ».

Πρόκειται για δυσάρεστη εξέλιξη και σε καμιά περίπτωση δεν θα πρέπει να συμπαρασύρει και τα εργασιακά δικαιώματα των συναδέλφων μας.

Το Δ.Σ. της ΕΣΗΕΑ θα ήθελε να έχει μια συνάντηση μαζί σας το ταχύτερο δυνατό προκειμένου να συζητηθεί το θέμα αυτό και εκ προοιμίου ζητούμε την πλήρη κατοχύρωση των εργασιακών – ασφαλιστικών και μισθολογικών δικαιωμάτων των συναδέλφων μας.»

TΟ ΔΙΟΙΚΗΤΙΚΟ ΣΥΜΒΟΥΛΙΟ

More than 350 people had signed an electronic petition by last night to save the English-language newspaper the Athens News after it emerged on Friday that Lambrakis Press, which has managed the weekly since 1993, said it will wind up the operation, possibly this week.

In an e-mail late on Friday, the newspaper’s editor John Psaropoulos said efforts were being made to extend the deadline so new investors could express their interest. Readers set up an online petition at http://www.petitiononline.com/AN001/petition.html.

“I believe the newspaper can be turned around in a year or just over a year with a business plan that the Lambrakis Press is not willing or unable to carry out,” Psaropoulos told Kathimerini English Edition. “But I think our publisher is keen to allow someone else the opportunity of bringing to completion the work in which he invested 15 years.”

He said the newspaper, first published in 1952, has launched a subscription drive to help keep it in existence, adding that fees would be reimbursed if the paper closes.

One of the first to come in, on Friday evening, was from a long-term reader living in Athens:

I first read an issue of the Athens News in the early 1970s. At that time it was a fairly low-quality newspaper. However, in recent years it has become a top-quality newspaper, one that the English-speaking community in Athens not only enjoys reading but one on which we heavily rely for its excellent coverage of issues very important to our survival here: new legal requirements for visas, tax information, guides to buying properties in Greece and running a business here, analysis of Greek politics and economics – in general where to find out about the multitude of essential things an expatriate living here needs to know. In the Athens News we even find voter registration information and deadlines for absentee ballots.

We also find excellent book reviews, profiles, arts, humour, music and cinema reviews – you name it. The question in my mind is, to which publication do we turn if the Athens News goes out of business? I see that the competition – which imitates the Athens News format – has made a great effort to take over the Athens News readership. I personally feel strong loyalty to the Athens News, which has made such great strides in representing our needs in recent years.

I trust that every effort will be made to extend the deadline for the closing of the newspaper so that in the meantime a sponsor can be found to continue publication of this excellent newspaper.

Alan Massie
Athens

We hope to publish as many of these letters as possible in this week’s issue of the paper. It’s still not to late to express your support, so please send us your thoughts if you haven’t done so already.

Over 400 people have signed the online petition calling on Lambrakis Press to give the paper a chance to survive.

Starting tomorrow, we hope to email everyone who has come out in support of the Athens News informing them of concrete ways in which they can further contribute to survival of the paper they love and respect.

Athens News
Διαβάζουμε στο Παρόν πως η ιστορική αγγλόφωνη εφημερίδα, Athens News, κλείνει. Η εν λόγω εβδομαδιαία εφημερίδα βγαίνει από το ΔΟΛ και έχει 57 χρόνια ιστορίας. Έχει ήδη δημιουργηθεί μπλογκ διαμαρτυρίας για την αναστολή της εφημερίδας.