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Maybe they will in the future. For the moment, however, we are not at this level. There are not so many people with Internet access. In recent years, an increase in their number has been registered. Perhaps between 30 and 40 per cent of the population, but we are far behind other countries such as Britain, where the rates are very high. But, even if we assume that a person has Internet access, it is not certain that he or she will use it to be informed. Many people use the Internet for commercial purposes; others just browse and have fun and some write their personal stories on blogs. Lifestyle also determines the amount of time a person devotes to the Internet. I doubt that a person getting back home after an 8-hour workday would want to sit at the computer. Furthermore, access to foreign information pages requires knowledge of at least English and this is something that not everybody possesses.

The opportunities for disseminating information via the Internet are not just immense; they are scary. But this is different from today's reality. In this line of thought, I believe that we have somewhat overrated the Internet and its possibilities.

You mentioned blogs. Recently, there have been cases of extortion and intimidation through them. Do you think it is urgent to adopt laws on their functioning?
 
I think that too much importance is attached to the role of blogs as an alternative means of information compared with traditional media. Here there are serious problems to be solved. We could divide blogs into the following categories: journalistic, which belong to any traditional media or to journalists working in them but unable to publish their information; personal information, in which the authors write about themselves and what excites them; and a third category where bloggers post information published in traditional media and company blogs. I.e. we have journalistic texts in journalistic blogs, republished journalistic texts in various other blogs and comments from all other categories. Bloggers are not able to produce information themselves, because investment funds are needed for this purpose as well as organization, staff and training. The role of blogs is now quite overvalued, but in future, they could take part in informing the public. In other words, traditional media: television, radio and newspapers dominate the blogosphere, but in a different, indirect way.

As for the articles concerning specific persons, I could also say that there is exaggeration. Here we are talking about anonymity. This is not connected with the author of a text but with its content, whether the information in it is true or false. Anonymity is a right that belongs to the author; it is an international legal principle. A person has the right to write his or her name, to use a nickname or not to write anything. The problem occurs when the information published in blogs and traditional media is false. The law empowers the authorities to take measures against the person spreading false or defamatory information. In the case of blogs, they can find the author electronically. I think people who rely on this as a problem in order to make new legislation are doing it to be able to exercise a general control over the expression of a position or alternative information in the blogosphere. They are not doing it because they cannot find the authors. Ultimately, we all know that they are journalists working in traditional media.
 
Journalistic blogs aside, all other blogs just comment on the information published in mainstream media. Our studies indicate that publications, which comment on the privacy of individuals are few and far between. Therefore, the problem is not so serious as presented. There are legal ways for its solution. I see no reason to add new rules, because the only thing that they will achieve will be to restrict the freedom of speech.

You are a teacher. How do you see the future of your students in the Greek media?

Naturally, our students are much better educated than  journalists were 20-30 years ago. Many of them had no journalistic education and became journalists through the system of apprenticeship to a respected journalist. This is not bad, but it is an outdated model and if this were enough, there would be no medical academies and technical institutes for example. Hence, there is no doubt that the new generation of journalists is much better educated.
 
On the other hand, students are lacking two main things. The first is that they are not very familiar with how the "closed circles" in Greece operate. When students leave university, one of the first things they should learn is how to move into an area where it is not the principles of labour market that are functioning, but the principles of closed circles.  Another thing they are lacking, unlike past generations, is a strong ideological view of the events. I do not mean only the political side of things but an opinion of the world, whatever it is. Due to the lack of both these things, there is the risk that all this knowledge will not constitute a complete picture of the world and will not act as an incentive and as a lifeline, which could save you in difficult times so that you can continue your work.