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Avriani

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Avriani
TypeDaily political newspaper
Owner(s)Giorgos Kouris
FoundedMarch 1980
LanguageGreek
Ceased publicationOctober 2012
Sister newspapersDimokratikos Logos (1986 - 1990)

Avriani was an afternoon daily political newspaper published in Athens and circulated nationwide. During the 1980s and the first half of the 1990s it was among the top-selling newspapers, sometimes surpassing even Ta Nea, which traditionally held the first place.

The newspaper was characterised by shifts in its political line, starting as a publication openly supporting PASOK and ending up on the side of Kostas Karamanlis and Alexis Tsipras, and by highly aggressive criticism of public figures, even going so far as to spread fake news. This character is described by the neologism ‘avrianism’, which characterises extreme populism in the press.[1][2]

In October 2012 the newspaper closed down, following a walkout by unpaid workers and bankruptcy. A year later, in November 2013, George Kouris launched Kontra News as a continuation of Avriani.

Ιστορία

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The newspaper was published in Athens in March 1980 by the brothers George and Makis Kouris, formerly publishers of local newspapers in Kefalonia. During the first three months of its circulation it was not distributed with the other newspapers and had almost zero circulation, that it is not included in the data of the Athens Daily Newspaper Owners' Association (ΕΙΗΕΑ).

Its circulation soared to 50,000 sheets a day in July 1980, mainly because in that month, due to a printers' strike, only three newspapers were circulating: the left-wing party publications Rizospastisand I Avgi and Avriani, whose editorial and technical staff did not belong to the respective trade unions. The price of the newspaper was 5 drachmas, when the others were sold at 15 drachmas.[3][4]

The Rallis government at the time tried to restrict the newspaper by prohibiting its sale at a reduced price and by imposing obstacles to its operation, such as the exclusion of its editors from the regular journalists' briefings. As a result, Avriani launched an unusual attack on New Democracy, in a style unprecedented for the time, culminating in allegations of tax evasion by the then Prime Minister's wife and mismanagement by then President of the Republic Konstantinos Karamanlis of Christina Onassis' donation to the Hellenic Navy.[3][5] For these allegations, prosecutions were brought against the Kouris brothers, as editors of Avriani, who were eventually sentenced to prison for slander. Makis Kouris was sent to prison, but George Kouris fled abroad,[6] from where he returned after the rise of PASOK to power and the exoneration of himself and his brother from the charges.[7][8]

From the elections of 1981, the newspaper was completely identified with a specific group of PASOK cadres and mainly with Menios Koutsogiorgas, to the point that it was considered his personal newspaper.[9] thumb|373x373px|“We won - PASOK's triumph”The front page of Avriani after PASOK's victory in the 1981 elections. The top black bar reads: “Open the prisons to release the publishers who brought us Change” From the moment PASOK came to power in 1981, Avriani adopted the slogan: “The newspaper that humiliated a government and demolished a rotten regime of 50 years”. Four years later and on the occasion of the election of Christos Sartzetakis as President of the Republic instead of Konstantinos Karamanlis, it changed it to: “The newspaper that demolished Karamanlism”. Many years later, its motto was changed again to: “Independent political newspaper”.

Other political, sports and art newspapers, including Avriani Macedonia-Thrace (1988-2014?),[10] an edition of Avriani in Thessaloniki with independent content from the Athens edition and Dimokratikos Logos, were subsequently added to the Kouris brothers' complex, while the company later expanded into the electronic media sector (Channel 5 - later Alter Channel). In the early 1990s, Makis Kouris left the publishing group.

Avrianism

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The newspaper benefited from Kyriakos Diakogiannis' expressive skills.[11] Avriani generally played the role of public prosecutor, criticising the government and specific ministers harshly at times, but never concealed its close relations with leading PASOK leaders. This phenomenon became known as ‘Avrianism’, having taken on a political dimension as an expression of a trend among PASOK cadres and supporters. The harsh and aggressive style of the newspaper and its unprecedented editorial success provoked much debate and controversy among scholars of Greek politics. Some saw the phenomenon of Avrianism as a sign of a fascism that was completely harmful to Greek public life.[1][12][13][14]

Before the 1985 elections, the newspaper published a front page photo of the then leader of the opposition Konstantinos Mitsotakis, falsely presenting him as a Nazi collaborator during the Occupation, which caused tension in the political scene.[15] In that month (May 1985), Avriani reached the peak of its circulation, selling on average 243,534 sheets every day (116,653 in Athens-Piraeus and 126,881 in the rest of Greece), one of the highest numbers in the history of the Athenian press.[16]

In the following years, it was not limited to attacks on political figures, but also on people from the artistic world, such as Lakis Lazopoulos,[17] Alexander Iolas,[18][19] Loukianos Kilaidonis[3] et al., while launching a scathing attack against Manos Hatzidakis. It even asked her readers to provide the newspaper with evidence “about the composer's qualities” (i.e. pertaining to his alledged homosexuality).[20][21] In the case of Lazopoulos, the revelations of Avriani about a false psych conscription discharge, forced the artist to undergo his military service.[17] Lazopoulos served a reduced 6-month service in 1987-8.[22]

In late 1994, the newspaper's publisher tried to obtain a substantial loan from the National Bank of Greece, but his request was denied.[23] In the autumn of 1995 it published on its front page nude photographs of Dimitra Liani-Papandreou in private moments,[24] while from that period onwards the wider PASOK space began to distance itself from the newspaper.

After 2000

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In the period after 2000, the newspaper appeared distanced from PASOK and its leadership, sometimes railing against the political system in general, while at other times supporting the government's choices and Kostas Karamanlis himself during his premiership. At times it seemed to provide support to emerging political groups, such as the then KEP of Dimitris Avramopoulos, while anti-Semitic headlines were not uncommon.[25][26]

Its circulation had decreased significantly, not exceeding, during the 2000s, on a daily basis and on a nationwide level, 5,000 sheets.[27] Its publisher promoted Greece's exit from the euro and return to the drachma.[28][29] In the last weeks of 2011, the owner of Avrianis George Kouris wrote controversial articles against the unpaid workers of Alter Channel. The article that angered the workers even more was the one of December 28, 2011, when the newspaper wrote in its front page that the Alter workers “pocketed” 82 billion drachmas.[30]

The newspaper's employees, following the example of their colleagues at the Alter Channel television station, went on a work stoppage. The reason was the same as that of their colleagues at Alter, to get their accrued wages. The strike continued after October 2012, when George Kouris declared bankruptcy and closed the newspaper.[31] However, a year later, in November 2013, Kouris launched Kontra News in place of Avriani.

References

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  1. ^ a b Παπάνθιμος, Άρης (1989). Αυριανισμός: Το σημερινό πρόσωπο του φασισμού. Αθήνα: Θεμέλιο. ISBN 960-7293-03-7. Cite error: The named reference "papa1989" was defined multiple times with different content (see the help page).
  2. ^ Σεβαστάκης, Νικόλας (30 April 2018). "Η "Αυριανή" και η Ελλάδα της". LiFO. Retrieved 3 Φεβρουαρίου 2023. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |access-date= (help)
  3. ^ a b c Χίος, Νίκος (1 Ιουνίου 1990). "Το σπίτι των ανέμων" (PDF). Αντί. Περ. β΄ (439). Αθήνα: 16–19. Retrieved 10 Φεβρουαρίου 2023. {{cite journal}}: Check date values in: |access-date= and |date= (help)
  4. ^ Ζαούσης, Αλέξης; Στράτος, Κωνσταντίνος (1993). Εφημερίδες 1974-92: Η αθέατη όψη μιας κρίσιμης πορείας. Αθήνα: Γνώση. pp. 53–56. ISBN 9789602355435.
  5. ^ "Θυμηθείτε μερικά από τα "ιστορικά" πρωτοσέλιδα της Αυριανής". Πρώτο Θέμα. 7 April 2013. Retrieved 3 Φεβρουαρίου 2023. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |access-date= (help)
  6. ^ "A fugitive Greek publisher celebrates court victories". The New York Times. New York: Sect. 1, 13. 29 March 1981. Retrieved 11 Φεβρουαρίου 2023. {{cite journal}}: Check date values in: |access-date= (help)
  7. ^ "Greek publisher is freed from prison". The New York Times. New York: A5. 28 October 1981. Retrieved 11 Φεβρουαρίου 2023. {{cite journal}}: Check date values in: |access-date= (help)
  8. ^ "Ένας Κουρής στη φυλακή;". Πρώτο Θέμα. 8 April 2013. Retrieved 11 Φεβρουαρίου 2023. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |access-date= (help)
  9. ^ Λακόπουλος, Γ. (24 Νοεμβρίου 2008). "Απολύστε την αεροσυνοδό". Το Βήμα. Αθήνα. Retrieved 7 January 2023. {{cite journal}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  10. ^ "Αρχείο Εφημερίδας ΑΥΡΙΑΝΗ ΜΑΚ/ΘΡΑΚΗΣ". www.protoselidaefimeridon.gr. Retrieved 2025-06-18.
  11. ^ Λανδρίτσης, Σπυρίδων. Το φαινόμενο του "Αυριανισμού": Λαϊκισμός και οι κρίσιμες εκλογές του 1985. Μάρτιος–Ιούνιος 1985 (PDF) (διπλωματική εργασία thesis). Αριστοτέλειο Πανεπιστήμιο Θεσσαλονίκης. p. 51. Retrieved 7 January 2023.
  12. ^ Ελεφάντης, Άγγελος (1991). Στον αστερισμό του λαϊκισμού. Αθήνα: Ο Πολίτης. p. 239.
  13. ^ Pesmazoglou, Stephanos (1993). "Τhe 1980s in the looking-glass". In Clogg, Richard (ed.). Greece, 1981-89: The Populist Decade. Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire, UK: The MacMillan Press. pp. 93–113. ISBN 0-333-55335-7. In the case of the Avriani group, words were employed not as bridges extended to the reader and listener, but as harpoons to be embedded in their subconscious. Primitive prejudices were appealed to, designed to kindle hatred in all directions. Superficially anti-right, anti-American, anti-imperialist, anti-capitalist, it [Avriani] employs all the traditional jargon of the left. Simultaneously a thoroughgoing anti-leftism prevails. (Στην περίπτωση του ομίλου της Αυριανής, λέξεις χρησιμοποιήθηκαν όχι ως γέφυρες που εκτείνονται προς τον αναγνώστη και τον ακροατή, αλλά ως καμάκια για να καρφωθούν στο υποσυνείδητό τους. Κλήθηκαν πρωτόγονες προκαταλήψεις, σχεδιασμένες να πυροδοτούν μίσος προς όλες τις κατευθύνσεις. Επιφανειακά αντιδεξιά, αντιαμερικανική, αντιιμπεριαλιστική, αντικαπιταλιστική, [η Αυριανή] χρησιμοποιεί όλη την παραδοσιακή ορολογία της αριστεράς. Ταυτόχρονα επικρατεί ένας πλήρης αντιαριστερισμός.)
  14. ^ Κατσουνάκη, Μαρία (24 July 2024). "Ανεξίτηλος "αυριανισμός"". Η Καθημερινή. Αθήνα. Retrieved 25 July 2024.
  15. ^ "Νέα κόντρα με αντικείμενο τη φωτογραφία Μητσοτάκη με Γερμανούς αξιωματικούς". in.gr. 26 March 2001. Retrieved 22 January 2023.
  16. ^ Zaousis & Stratos (1993), as cited, p. 195-200.
  17. ^ a b Γιουρμετάκης, Α. (27 Φεβρουαρίου 2016). "Διδακτικές ιστορίες από το παρελθόν". Ελευθερία. Λάρισα. Retrieved 22 January 2023. {{cite journal}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  18. ^ Παρίδης, Χρήστος (28 March 2012). "Αλέξανδρος Ιόλας: Το εξέχον θήραμα του αυριανισμού". LiFO. Retrieved 22 January 2023.
  19. ^ Καραστάθης, Βασίλης. Οι επιπτώσεις του αυριανισμού στην πολιτιστική πολιτική της Ελλάδας τη δεκαετία του 1980: Η περίπτωση της δωρεάς του Αλέξανδρου Ιόλα (PDF) (διπλωματική εργασία thesis). Ελληνικό Ανοικτό Πανεπιστήμιο. Retrieved 11 Φεβρουαρίου 2023. {{cite thesis}}: Check date values in: |access-date= (help)
  20. ^ Δημοκίδης, Άρης (15 Ιουνίου 2015). "Αντέχετε να διαβάσετε τι έγραφε η Αυριανή εναντίον του Μάνου Χατζιδάκι;". LiFO. Retrieved 22 January 2023. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  21. ^ Τσιντσίνης, Μιχάλης (20 March 2017). "Χατζιδάκις εναντίον "Αυριανής"". Η Καθημερινή. Αθήνα. Retrieved 7 January 2023.
  22. ^ "Λάκης Λαζόπουλος". Pagenews.gr (in Greek). 2019-08-22. Retrieved 2025-06-18.
  23. ^ "Αλληλοδιαπλοκή συμφερόντων". Ριζοσπάστης. Αθήνα: 6. 22 January 1997. Retrieved 4 Φεβρουαρίου 2023. {{cite journal}}: Check date values in: |access-date= (help)
  24. ^ Μπογιόπουλος, Νίκος (14 October 1997). ""Αυριανή", Λιάνη και Σημίτης". Ριζοσπάστης. Αθήνα: 12. Retrieved 7 January 2023.
  25. ^ Tsagarousianou, Roza. Mass communications and political culture: authoritarianism and press representations of political deviance in Greece (PDF) (Ph.D. Thesis thesis). University of Kent. pp. 323–325. Retrieved 3 Φεβρουαρίου 2023. {{cite thesis}}: Check date values in: |access-date= (help)
  26. ^ "Η αναμενόμενη εκλογική νίκη του Ομπάμα σηματοδοτεί… Το τέλος της εβραϊκής κυριαρχίας". Αυριανή. Αθήνα: 1. 4 Νοεμβρίου 2008. {{cite journal}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  27. ^ "Η κυκλοφορία των εφημερίδων, Δευτέρα 22 Ιουνίου 2009". Ζούγκλα (zougla.gr). 25 Ιουνίου 2009. Retrieved 7 January 2023. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  28. ^ "Επιστροφή στη δραχμή: Η μόνη λύση για τη σωτηρία της Ελλάδας". Αυριανή. Αθήνα: 1. 16 July 2011.
  29. ^ Thomas Jr., Landon (1 Νοεμβρίου 2011). "Whispers of return to drachma grow louder in Greek crisis". The New York Times. New York: B1. Retrieved 4 Φεβρουαρίου 2023. {{cite journal}}: Check date values in: |access-date= and |date= (help)
  30. ^ "81.903.196.293 δρχ τσέπωσαν οι εργαζόμενοι του Alter: Από το 2001 μέχρι το 2010…". Αυριανή. Αθήνα: 1. 28 December 2011.
  31. ^ "ΕΣΗΕΑ: Καταγγέλλει τον Γ. Κουρή". Ριζοσπάστης. Αθήνα: 30. 20 Νοεμβρίου 2012. Retrieved 4 Φεβρουαρίου 2023. {{cite journal}}: Check date values in: |access-date= and |date= (help)
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