Two Greek newspapers back to circulation after pay row

Two newspapers in Greece with a history of over eight decades, "Ta Nea" (The News) and "Ethnos" (Nation), returned to newsstands by Christmas eve after the end of a journalists' strike earlier this week over back pay.

About 1,000 journalists, technicians and administrative personnel had walked off the job to protest against long delays in payment of salaries. Most have not been paid since August, as the two media groups controlling the two dailies are struggling with multi-million euro debts.

After receiving Christmas bonus, journalists returned to work and the newspapers were printed again with all sides expressing hope that with the New Year the situation will improve and normality will be restored.

The Lambrakis Press Group (DOL), which prints "Ta Nea", faces a more difficult situation, according to unionists, since the publisher Stavros Psycharis faces criminal charges of tax evasion and money-laundering.

A court in Athens announced it will prosecute him after an audit of his income since 2000 revealed a gap of 45 million euros(47.05 million U.S. dollars) which had not been declared to the Tax office.

Besides mismanagement of media groups and the impact of the Internet cited by unionists as a key factor behind the crisis, the sector has suffered also from the debt crisis which has hit Greece since 2009.

In their peak Ethnos, Nea and other major newspapers used to sell on average 200,000 copies per day. In recent years their average circulation has dropped to 12,000 copies daily. Enditem