THE WORD diaploki, a generic term describing the entanglement of
political power and business interests, was coined in 1993 by outgoing prime
minister Constantine Mitsotakis. Currently New Democracy party's honorary
chairman, Mitsotakis had publicly accused entrepreneurs-turned-media owners
Aristidis Alafouzos, George Bobolas and Socrates Kokkalis of promoting their
business interests by manipulating public opinion against his right-wing
government through their radio and TV stations.

Ever since, the claim that politicians are in a constant bargain with business
conglomerates that own media outlets by trading lucrative state contracts for
favourable coverage is a mainstay of the country's political debate.
Commercial TV is at its centre.

Name of the game

Television is the most powerful medium in Greece. It reaches over 95 percent
of Greece's households, whereas just a minority of Greeks are regular
newspaper readers. Contrary to western European countries, where some 70
percent of companies' media advertising budgets goes to newspapers and
magazines and just 30 percent to television, the reverse is true in Greece.

The fragmentation of the country's TV landscape makes stations easy prey for
cash-rich outsiders. Television is an expensive business and, according to
Dimitris Psychogios, media professor at the Panteios University and member of
National Council for Radio and Television (NCRT), Greece's media watchdog,
there are simply too many stations around for financially strong and
journalistically independent-minded media to evolve.

"How can they (make a profit) when (we have) licences for nine national TV
stations. France, Italy and Britain - with a larger population - have no more
than five or six," he has written in To Vima on Sunday. The country's
TV market leaders Antenna and Mega are apparently the only stations with
actual profit potential.

Behind the scenes

Antenna - listed on the Nasdaq, London and Frankfurt stock exchanges - is
owned by shipowner Minos Kyriakou. Meanwhile, publishers Lambrakis (10.76
percent), Christos Tegopoulos (11.68) and Bobolas (10.04 - the last is also
big in the construction business) call the shots at Antenna's top rival Mega.
Insurance mogul Dimitris Kontominas holds 24.07 percent directly (and
reportedly another 14.4 percent indirectly) in news-oriented Alpha.

The petroleum-heavy Vardinoyiannis family pulls the strings at Star channel.
Computer businessman Thanassis Athanassoulis is said to control TV channel
Alter, which recently entered the Athens Stock Exchange. Construction
entrepreneur Michalis Androulidakis holds 80 percent of Tempo channel. The
remaining 20 percent belongs to Lorentzos Freris, owner of fast-food chain
Everest.

Research conducted by Psychogios found most of these entrepreneurs doing
business with the government. To name but a few examples: Bobolas and
Androulidakis build roads and public buildings. A Lambrakis-owned company
frequently arranges government officials' travel. Tegopoulos sells
telecommunication services to a state-owned bank. Kyriakou seems to be
involved in a company doing business with state-owned ammunition
manufacturers. Companies controlled by Kontominas have received government
orders. Thomas Liakounakos, Greece's most efficient arms procurement
go-between owns part of Star channel.

Disentangling the web

In a bid to inhibit economic-political entanglements, the government
legislated in 1995 that no businessman obtaining government contracts will be
allowed to hold a single share in media enterprises.

After the law failed to disentangle the web, the press ministry last month
tabled a bill which legislates the other way around: This time, persons who
own more than 5 percent of media companies (newspapers, TV, radio, Internet)
or are otherwise wielding significant power over them, are to be barred from
obtaining government contracts.

Critics say the government's proposals are inadequate because they do not take
into account the fact that shareholdings could be conveniently parked in the
laps of relatives, straw men or offshore companies the owners of which cannot
be identified.

Currently, many TV channels' shareholder registers read like invitation lists
to family reunions, especially in the cases of Antenna (Kyriakou) and
Makedonia TV (Karavassilis). The new bill bars relatives of media owners from
holding stakes in the same companies if they cannot prove that they are
financially independent. Observers, however, think such a measure would be
unconstitutional. On top of that, Kyriakou exerts his influence on Antenna
through Ireland-based offshore companies.

No other country in Europe has similar regulations, apart from Turkey. In
order to avoid biased media, EU governments set ceilings on market share. For
instance, a media group is not allowed to occupy more than 30 percent of the
TV market, or 10 percent of the overall media market.

Restricting media owners' freedom of manoeuvre could be a futile exercise in a
globalised economy, constitutional lawyers point out. The best way to deal
with undue business influence in local media seems to be reducing the state's
role in the country's economy and boosting TV channels' profitability.

The moguls themselves say the diaploki debate is merely politicians'
talk. On February 28, Bobolas celebrated the 20th birthday of his newspaper
To Ethnos. Mitsotakis was one of the first to congratulate.