I suggest you keep notes, cause this is going to take a while.
It is the middle of December, and one man is not really enjoying the Christmas spirit that’s taken over the city. He has his own troubles to worry about. Apparently, this man, we’ll call him Christos (no connection to Jesus Christ, with the exception of the name resemblance), in his late 60s –early 70s or so, was in an extra- marital relationship with a woman, much younger than he was. But apart from the age thing (which, imho, is no biggy), there was good reason he was jumpy about his relationship. Apparently, he was that woman’s (we’ll call her “the 34 year-old”) superior at the greek Ministry of Culture, and now she was blackmailing him with a DVD, threatening to put it on every video store in the country.
Christos jumped out the 4th floor window, at his house in Kolonaki, Athens. Those who knew him, before he became “Christos the jumper” or “Christos of the Ministry” talk about a decent man, an artist, a rocker, a reader. It’s shocking how politics, sex, power, some times individually, some times combined, can cloud your mind and change your psyche.
Ok, so this happened. FYI, Christos did not die. He is in the intensive care unit, badly hurt, but he will live. How can this happen, you may wonder? Some times, it seems that the Gods won’t let you die, until you’ve come face to face with the repercussions of your actions. Some times, you are just unlucky.
Well, his dive from the 4th floor stirred a series of events that have shaken the greek political and journalistic world. Pens ready? Here we go:
The 34 year-old had this DVD of the two of them… well… fucking. She took it to a couple of reporters and it finally found its way to the government’s hands. (Mind you, I’m giving you the quick version of the facts!). Four days after it was handed over to government officials by an unknown journalist (did you write that down? There will be more talking about this person later), the DVD was handed over to the judicial authorities. That, naturally, caused a series of questions:
- what took the government four days to watch and understand?
- the DVD was apparently edited. Who edited it? Why did they edit it? What was missing? Was it edited when the government got it, or did the government edit it?
- who was the journalist that handed the DVD over? Why did s/he give it to the government and not the proper authorities? What did he take in return?
- was there more in the DVD, apart from the… well… obvious?
There has been almost a month of speculation. The government official refused to give the name of the journalist, since the official was himself a journalist, and claimed he was bound to not reveal his sources. That argument collapsed yesterday, and he visited the investigator’s office, where he revealed the name.
Now… The Name:
One of the biggest newspapers in Greece is To Proto Thema. Two journalist own it, Makis and Themos, who each own 40%, and one third guy owns 20% (we’ll call him Mr 20%). There’s much speculation that the DVD- journalist is actually Themos, but he vehemently denies it, threatening to sue anyone who hints that. This Sunday, To Proto Thema published photographs right out of the police investigation, that pictured Christos and the 34 year-old having sex. The photos were, to be honest, emetic, I have sex on my own, thank you very much, I don’t need to see a 250 pound old man at it with a woman half his age.
Makis was outraged. He claimed he was out of Athens, on business, when they called him from the newspaper and told him they had a couple of photos, and never explained to him exactly what they were. He called on Mr 20% to back him up and have Themos thrown out of the newspaper, cause he is “not at all sure that he is not the DVD-guy” and claimed to be disgusted with the whole situation. Themos maintains that he is not the one.
Meanwhile, the journalists working at To Proto Thema issued a statement, completely backing Themos. Later, Makis continued his attack on Themos, from his TV show, late at night. He claimed that Themos has from 5 to 14 million euros in his bank account that came from, who knows where, hinting that he was paid from the government, or that he was paid from someone else and simply tried to keep the government off his back when it came to that amount. That same night, the journalists issued another statement, saying that Makis actually put himself off the paper, both ethically and journalistically.
And here we are, the simple people of Greece, and the simple journalists working on the payroll, watching our country’s simple morals fall down the toilet and our, not so reputable anyway, profession’s name bathed in mud and horse-poo.
So, how’s 2008 treating you all?
