Avriani
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| Type | Daily political newspaper |
|---|---|
| Owner | Giorgos Kouris |
| Founded | March 1980 |
| Ceased publication | October 2012 |
| Language | Greek |
| Sister newspapers | Dimokratikos Logos (1986 - 1990) |
Avriani was an afternoon daily political newspaper published in Athens and circulated nationwide. During the 1980s and the first half of the 1990s it was among the top-selling newspapers, sometimes surpassing even Ta Nea, which traditionally held the first place.
The newspaper was characterised by shifts in its political line, starting as a publication openly supporting PASOK and ending up on the side of Kostas Karamanlis and Alexis Tsipras, and by highly aggressive criticism of public figures, even going so far as to spread fake news. This character is described by the neologism ‘avrianism’, which characterises extreme populism in the press.[1][2]
In October 2012 the newspaper closed down, following a walkout by unpaid workers and bankruptcy. A year later, in November 2013, George Kouris launched Kontra News as a continuation of Avriani.
The newspaper was published in Athens in March 1980 by the brothers George and Makis Kouris, formerly publishers of local newspapers in Kefalonia. During the first three months of its circulation it was not distributed with the other newspapers and had almost zero circulation, thus it is not included in the data of the Athens Daily Newspaper Owners' Association (ΕΙΗΕΑ).
Its circulation soared to 50,000 sheets a day in July 1980, mainly because in that month, due to a printers' strike, only three newspapers were circulating: the left-wing party publications Rizospastis and I Avgi and Avriani, whose editorial and technical staff did not belong to the respective trade unions. The price of the newspaper was 5 drachmas, when the others were sold at 15 drachmas.[3][4]
The Rallis government at the time tried to restrict the newspaper by prohibiting its sale at a reduced price and by imposing obstacles to its operation, such as the exclusion of its editors from the regular journalists' briefings. As a result, Avriani launched an unusual attack on New Democracy, in a style unprecedented for the time, culminating in allegations of tax evasion by the then Prime Minister's wife and mismanagement by then President of the Republic Konstantinos Karamanlis of Christina Onassis' donation to the Hellenic Navy.[3][5] For these allegations, prosecutions were brought against the Kouris brothers, as editors of Avriani, who were eventually sentenced to prison for slander. Makis Kouris was sent to prison, but George Kouris fled abroad,[6] from where he returned after the rise of PASOK to power and the exoneration of himself and his brother from the charges.[7][8]
From the elections of 1981, the newspaper was completely identified with a specific group of PASOK cadres and mainly with Menios Koutsogiorgas, to the point that it was considered his personal newspaper.[9] From the moment PASOK came to power in 1981, Avriani adopted the slogan: "The newspaper that humiliated a government and demolished a rotten regime of 50 years". Four years later and on the occasion of the election of Christos Sartzetakis as President of the Republic instead of Konstantinos Karamanlis, it changed it to: "The newspaper that demolished Karamanlism". Many years later, its motto was changed again to: "Independent political newspaper".
Other political, sports and art newspapers, including Avriani Macedonia-Thrace (1988-2014?),[10] an edition of Avriani in Thessaloniki with independent content from the Athens edition and Dimokratikos Logos, were subsequently added to the Kouris brothers' complex, while the company later expanded into the electronic media sector (Channel 5 - later Alter Channel). In the early 1990s, Makis Kouris left the publishing group.