Patras: From the 19th Century Reporter to the Use of Artificial Intelligence

Particularly useful conclusions for the present and the future of the Mass Media were drawn from the excellent scientific conference with the ingenious title: From the 19th century reporter to the use of Artificial Intelligence.

The day was organized by ESIEPIN, the Press Museum of the Union and the Hellenic Open University in its welcoming auditorium. The conference was moderated by the journalist President of the Press Museum Michalis Vassilakis. The general coordination was the journalist member of the Board of the Press Museum Irini Tsakas.

The Secretary General of Communication and Information, Dimitris Galamatis, addressed a greeting via the internet. Addressing the organizers, he noted that “the topic you have chosen, namely from the 19th century reporter in the use of artificial intelligence, is particularly challenging and, to borrow the poet’s line, ‘shocks with its timeliness'”.

He also pointed out that: “the advance of technology has created threats, which, in some cases, are asymmetric” and underlined: “I am referring to disinformation and fake news, because they open new chapters and new challenges for issues related to defense and security of the journalistic profession and in general the professions of the media space. It also highlights the need for more digital literacy of the population and especially of the most vulnerable groups, such as children and the ages that do not have the ability to handle these new technologies. Education in the media therefore creates new data and opens new paths”.

Returning to the theme of the conference, he emphasized that “everything that will be heard, apart from being interesting, will also have a special value for the state, so that they can form the basis and raw material for institutional interventions”.

Greetings were also addressed by the Mayor of Patreon Kostas Peletidis, the President of POESY Sotiris Triantafyllou, the President of ESIEPIN Kyriakos Kortesis, the professor of EAP Giorgos Hatzigeorgiou, the President of TEAS Thanasis Babanevas, while the event was attended by Pantelis Orfanidis, Director of the Office of Secretary General of Communication and Information.

During the event, Panteio professor emeritus, distinguished Greek journalist Nikos Bakunakis was honored for his many years of substantial contribution to the media. Mr. Bakunakis was awarded the identity card of an honorary member of ESIEPIN by the President of ESIEPIN, Kyriakos Kortesis. The honoree expressed his thanks and said with emotion that “the distinction is a medal and a title of honor”.

In his interesting introduction, Mr. Bakunakis referring specifically to the printed press, emphasized that although it is retreating at great rates internationally, it will also exist referring to artificial intelligence, he said that it “produces content, makes compositions and is considered to be a threat today to journalists and journalism, but it is not a threat, on the contrary it will be a very important new tool for journalists and the media”.

For his part, the professor of the Department of Journalism and Media of AUTH, Antonis Skamnakis, referred to the development and formation of the daily press of the Region, stressing among other things that “the daily press of the region in Greece is going through one of the most difficult periods in his story”. He also emphasized that “the importance of the regional press, as well as the rest of the radio and television and online media, is important, since they continue to act as a counterweight to the strong concentration trends in the media, which tend to threaten democracy and pluralism” .

An important intervention was also made by the journalist – professor of the University of Peloponnese and member of SEP – EAP, Giota Antonopoulou, who was mentioned in the Greek media, as social derivatives and phenomena, but also about the course, trends and perspectives.

“Our problem,” he emphasized, “is not the Internet, nor the coming artificial intelligence,” and added: “Our problem is that we are losing our roots, and our roots are society. We no longer function as social derivatives, nor as social phenomena. We operate as a supersphere, as a supersphere that has formed its own system of power, as a supersphere that consults with the respective power, as a supersphere that subverts power as it pleases, as a supersphere that wags the finger and judges , criticizes, judges. The module was coordinated by journalist Marina Rizogianni.

The section “We are experiencing a paradigm shift in journalism” was developed by the associate professor of the Department of Journalism and Mass Media, AUTH Ioanna Costarella, focusing on the importance of journalistic credibility in the age of face news. The Organizational Secretary of POESY, scientific manager of ESIEA seminars and candidate Dr. Andreas Panagopoulos from AUTH Journalism spoke with evidence and typical examples of the transition from multi-tool journalists to algorithmic journalist assistants. The journalist – DPO ERT AE Vassilis Vassilopoulos made important remarks on the use of Artificial Intelligence, talking about virtual journalism and ethics, with good practices for the use of Artificial Intelligence. This section was coordinated by journalist Zois Marinos.

The assistant professor of Political Economy of the Evelpidon Military School, Dimitris Paitaridis, presented an INE-GSEE study on the topic “Skills diagnosis study – Journalists”, while the Associate Professor of History of European Literature, member of the Academic Supervisory Committee of the Master’s Program in Creative Writing, Antigone Vlavianou, developed the theme “Creative Writing and challenges for Journalism”. It was coordinated by the journalist secretary of the Press Museum of ESIEPIN Giorgos Iliopoulos.

Finally, the journalist Tasos Stathopoulos made an intervention on the topic: “Port of Patras: The European gateway of Greece” which he fully documented with references to sources of the time, talking about the work of Maniac and his historical record that he left us a legacy , but also for the transport of raisins.