Communication Department

Introduction to Journalism

Comm- 125

Instructor: Dr. D. Kamaras

Topic: The Abolition of Stage Program

By

Lousine Saakian

November 23, 2009

Introduction
It was announced by the governmental conference the decision not to renew any
contract of Stage employed of the Public while this program is going to be abolished for
the Public and the Local Authority. Thousands of Stage employed of the Public has to
confront a big issue by this decision, especially those who have been working more than
two years because they have rights of permanency but actually it does not exist a law
which anticipates these kinds of rights. However, those Stage employed of 24 months of
working have ensured the right, according to the law of Paulopoulos, to participate with
bounty in competitions of ASEP for the acquisition of permanent places in the public
sector.
This news story was very crucial and important for the Stage workers and in general,
for the society because of the seriousness of the situation due to the fact that thousands of
people will become unemployed. Therefore, it has concerned a lot of journalists and
reporters, so the governmental decision was announced and discussed by the television; it
was edited in the newspapers, and it was published on the internet web sites.

TV - 23/10
Initially, the first day that it was announced on the TV, the primary subject of news

bulletin was that of the governmental change in the policy of Stage workers. The

newscaster started by saying to the viewers: «Today, it is due to receive the final

decisions in extended meeting from the wise president of the government Mr. Theodoro

Pagalo and with the participation of the Ministers of Work». Immediately, a video

appeared in our screens, which was located in the Syntagma square where a reporter was

talking to the camera: “The protest march of the employed has started and people are

waiting solutions for the issue of giving particles and participating in competitions of

ASEP. The video ended and the newscaster finished the subject by these words: «So, we

are waiting for the results of the government”.

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Newspaper - 23/10
In the same day, newspapers, in general, edited this incident and specifically the
newspaper KATHIMERINI described it with few words in the front-page of the
newspaper locating it in the column of the most important news of the day. It does not
have an image, although it is written with capital and bold letters the title of the particular
topic. The article is described with only 48 words and then there is written the page in
bold letters again of the full analysis of the topic. While readers turn over the pages and
get to the page that it was mentioned at the beginning next to the article, they find an
almost whole page which is devoted to the issue of the Stage workers. Firstly, in the top
of the page is written the title (a different one with that of the front page) in capital and
bold letters. Below, it is the subtitle with smaller letters and then, the name of the author.
The story begins with the lead describing the 5W’s (who, what, where, when, why) and
the How based on the editorial planning giving all the details that are useful for the reader
in order to have a complete idea of what he is going to read about. Below of the first
paragraph is written a quote and the story continues by giving more details about the
topic. It has a time sequence body while it is a reverse chronology that starts with the
present actions that are concerned with the decision about the Stage employers, goes to
the past and ends with a future statement as it happened.
In the second column, the editor gives a historical background about how the Stage
programs began for the employers and it describes in separate paragraphs each process
that has been implemented. However, there are three paragraphs that are in bold letters
and are considered to be the most important for the editor and the readers that have to do
with the historical background.
Below of these two columns is written another story that has to do again with the same
issue but it analyze the opinions of the politicians. First, it is the title in capital letters,
below the name of the author and the paragraph starts with the first word in bold letters
and continues describing again the 5W’s and the How. Between the letters of the first
paragraph, is written a quote and then the paragraph continues again. For the body, the
main point is the lead. All supporting points relate to the focus in the lead. Each part of
the story is equally important. In the middle of the body, there is an image which is not

3
colorful while the newspaper KATHIMERINI in general, has some colorful images in
couple of stories. Below of the image, is explained by the author, in 18 words, where the
image is referred to. The ending refers back to a point in the lead.
At the end of the page, there is a final story that is related to the issue of the Stage
workers and it starts with the title in capital letters and below of it is the name of the
author and then the story begins with the first two words being in bold letters. The first
paragraph is big and it starts with the hard- news summary lead and then rebuild the story
chronologically. Moreover, there is an image and below of it there is an explanation of
this image having the first word in bold letters. Next to the story, there is a table of bullet
points. In addition, in this page there is a separate column which describes the events of
three different issues that are not related with the issue of Stage employers at all.

Internet - 23/10
On the other hand, this case has been analyzed also, in the internet in the website of
Kathimerini.gr which it was appeared in the front page as being one of the most
important issues of the day. There is the title of the subject in bold letters and below there
is the subtitle appeared on screen. Users have the facility to click on the title and read the
whole story which is described in the financial sector without using any image. In
addition, users besides clicking on the title of the topic in the home page, they can click
directly to the bullet point of finance and it is appeared again, the same title which was in
the home page, in bullet point again.

TV- 24/10
The second day the topic of the Stage employers was described by the presenter as
follows: «Ladies and Gentlemen, good afternoon. Turbulence has provoked the decision
of the government about the abolition of the Stage programs in the public and the
employers are preparing to resort in the justice, at least those who have completed at least
two years in the same position. However, it seems that this settlement it is only the
beginning of sweeping interruptions in the public by the government while a ‘’knife’’
enters in overtimes, and hiring’s». Then, a video appears which is located on the
Syntagma Square showing the people who were making a protest march and the reporter

4
was talking simultaneously by repeating the words of the anchor: “Turbulence has
provoked the decision of the government about the abolition of the Stage programs in the
public and the employers are preparing to resort in the justice, at least those who have
completed at least two years in the same position”. Then, the reporter was taking an
interview by an employer of Stage program and they showed only the answer of the
employer which it was the following: «We are asking for a justification for all these years
that they want to throw them on the garbage. From tomorrow, we will be unemployment.
We have families, children, what are we going to do? » Then, the reporter was talking to
the camera while it was showing the video again in the Syntagma square. She said: «400
employers for 5.5 of sequence of years are in the same position in the services of OAED,
while they overcome the 1000 the employers for 4 years in insurance coffers and
conveyors of the same sector. They apply for a justification and they are supported by
public employers that work with them». The issue finishes with the statement of the
reporter and the anchor continues directly to the next subject.

Newspaper - 24/10
In the newspaper KATHIMERINI, the subject of the Stage process is mentioned in the
front page having the title in bold letters and two small paragraphs following it and the
page where is going to be a full analysis on it. Hence, when the readers go to this page
can get information for the particular issue in the half of the page which describes two
different stories related to the same issue. In the middle of these two pages, on the top,
there is an image- colorful at this time- and below a second smaller image, colorful too.
In the first story, the title is in capital and below there are the subtitle and the name of the
author. The lead of the story describes the 5W’S and the How following the editorial
planning. The body starts with a statement of the problem, providing facts, offering
background and discussing the solution. There is also a quote and then the story
continues getting in depth. The ending is based on the next step in an action proposed by
the president of the government. The second story, has one title in capitals, without
subtitles and written the first paragraph in many words. It doesn’t follow the typical
editorial planning. Again, between the sentences of the second paragraph there is a quote
and the story ends up with only two paragraphs.

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Internet – 24/10
Alternatively, in the website of Kathimerini.gr , the issue of Stage workers is appeared
in the front page as an important issue of the day and users can click on it and read the
full analysis and description of the topic. It is analyzed only in two paragraphs, while in
the previous day it was described in more paragraphs. It was printed in the politic section,
but also users could click on the financial sector and find the same story that it was
printed in the previous day.

Argument
Generally, the Internet is a more immediate form of communication than the television
or newspaper. Web sites, online newsletters, bulletin boards and other forms of Internet
communication can be updated at any second. All information and news is up to the
minute. The information that each user want to have is available 24 hours a day and
seven days a week. The Internet allows an organization to be discovered by millions of
people all across the world. Internet is a low cost, speed and ease of distribution. On the
other hand, with TV news viewers have certain times that they must tune in, such as two
or eight o'clock news, to catch what is going on in their country today. And even when
you do catch the news on TV, they show what people want to see rather than what they
need to know to better TV ratings. With TV it is easy to grab the attention of their
audience but hard to keep it for an entire show, losing its effectiveness as a provider of
important information. In addition, with a newspaper there is no time limit on when
readers get to read the article and they can review the article as many times as they need
to fully understand the story, although there are two many stories that they have in front
of them that sometimes it is not convenient for the reader such as the internet that users
can click in each section they want and read it.

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 APPENDIX

TELEVISION

Date: October 23, 2009

Channel: ANT1

News Time: 14:00

«Today, it is due to receive the final decisions in extended meeting from the wise

president of the government Mr. Theodoro Pagalo and with the participation of the

Ministers of Work». Immediately, a video appeared in our screens, which was located in

the Syntagma square where a reporter was talking to the camera: “The protest march of

the employed has started and people are waiting solutions for the issue of giving particles

and participating in competitions of ASEP. The video ended and the newscaster finished

the subject by these words: «So, we are waiting for the results of the government”.

NEWSPAPER

Date: October, 23 2009

Newspaper: Kathimerini

Politics section

Authors: Konstantinos Zoulas, Elli Triantafyllou, Foteini Kalliri

Pages: Front page, 5

INTERNET

Date: October 23, 2009

Web site: Kathimerini.gr

Financial section

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TELEVISION

Date: October 24, 2009

Channel: ANT1

News Time: 20:00

«Ladies and Gentlemen, good afternoon. Turbulence has provoked the decision of the
government about the abolition of the Stage programs in the public and the employers are
preparing to resort in the justice, at least those who have completed at least two years in
the same position. However, it seems that this settlement it is only the beginning of
sweeping interruptions in the public by the government while a ‘’knife’’ enters in
overtimes, and hiring’s». Then, a video appears which is located on the Syntagma Square
showing the people who were making a protest march and the reporter was talking
simultaneously by repeating the words of the anchor: “Turbulence has provoked the
decision of the government about the abolition of the Stage programs in the public and
the employers are preparing to resort in the justice, at least those who have completed at
least two years in the same position”. Then, the reporter was taking an interview by an
employer of Stage program and they showed only the answer of the employer which it
was the following: «We are asking for a justification for all these years that they want to
throw them on the garbage. From tomorrow, we will be unemployment. We have
families, children, what are we going to do? » Then, the reporter was talking to the
camera while it was showing the video again in the Syntagma square. She said: «400
employers for 5.5 of sequence of years are in the same position in the services of OAED,
while they overcome the 1000 the employers for 4 years in insurance coffers and
conveyors of the same sector. They apply for a justification and they are supported by
public employers that work with them». The issue finishes with the statement of the
reporter and the anchor continues directly to the next subject.

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NEWSPAPER
Date: October 24, 2009
Newspaper: Kathimerini
Politics Section
Authors: Konstantinos Zoulas, Vasilis Nedos
Pages: Front Page, 4

INTERNET
Date: Ocober 24, 2009
Web site: Kathimerini.gr
Politcs section, Financial section