Re-training Greek journalists on new media practices: Expecting Re-employment,yet falling short

Abstract

This paper examines how Greek journalists perceive the effectiveness of new-media practices-oriented journalism education in their profession, using the retraining seminars on new media technologies conducted by the Journalists’ Union of Athens Daily Newspapers (JUADN) between 2019 and 2022 as a case study. Utilising a quantitative methodology, the study analyses data from an online questionnaire completed by 120 journalists between October and November 2022, immediately after they successfully participated in a five-cycle training seminar. It evaluates participants’ self-reported familiarity with new media tools and explores their attitudes toward lifelong learning practices. It also discusses technological determinism as a limited theoretical approach in the platform era and its impact on the perception of journalism practices. The research findings underscore the pressing need for ongoing, structured training on new media practices that cater to journalists’ needs within the platform-dominated media ecosystem. Despite acknowledging the value of the knowledge and skills acquired, the survey responders revealed that these assets only partially affected their reintegration into the labour market.