QUESTIONABLE SOURCE
A questionable source exhibits one or more of the following: extreme bias, consistent promotion of propaganda/conspiracies, poor or no sourcing to credible information, a complete lack of transparency, and/or is fake news. Fake News is the deliberate attempt to publish hoaxes and/or disinformation for the purpose of profit or influence (Learn More). Sources listed in the Questionable Category may be very untrustworthy and should be fact-checked on a per article basis. Sources on this list are not considered fake news unless specifically written in the reasoning section for that source. See all Questionable sources.
- Overall, we rate Proto Thema Right Biased and Questionable due to poor sourcing, lack of transparency with ownership, and numerous failed fact checks.
Detailed Report
Reasoning: Poor Sourcing, Lack of Transparency, Numerous Failed Fact Checks, Fake News
Bias Rating: RIGHT
Factual Reporting: MIXED
Country: GREECE
MBFC’s Country Freedom Rating: MOSTLY FREE
Media Type: Newspaper
Traffic/Popularity: High Traffic
MBFC Credibility Rating: LOW CREDIBILITY
History
Founded in 2005 by Makis Triantafyllopoulos, Themos Anastasiadis, and Tassos Karamitsos, Proto Thema is a Greek weekly newspaper based in Athens, Greece. In 2008, Proto Thema launched the portal http://www.protothema.gr, as a daily e-newspaper. The newspaper covers politics, national and international news, lifestyle, and tabloid-style sensational news.
Read our profile on Greece’s Media and Government.
Funded by / Ownership
Proto Thema is published by Proto Thema Publishing SA, which does not disclose ownership. Revenue is derived through advertising and subscription fees.
Analysis / Bias
Proto Thema was previously known to have a liberal stance; however, at present, their views are favorable to the center-right New Democracy Party.
In review, Proto Thema headlines are moderately emotional such as this “Turkish President Erdogan provokes again: My dream as a boy was to free Hagia Sophia.” Articles are typically sourced with large quotes, and they republish stories from Bloomberg. Politically, they tend to favor the right; for example, when covering Greek politics, Proto Thema uses moderately emotionally loaded headlines and avoids criticism when covering the Center-Right New Democracy party leader and current Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis: “Kyriakos Mitsotakis posts photo of his adorable dog.”
On the other hand, they critically cover former Prime Minister and left-wing Syriza party leader Alexis Tsipras, such as “SYRIZA leader Tsipras covers ex-Minister Pappas amid Kalogritsas “White House” backlash.” This article is poorly sourced and does not provide hyperlinks to the documents they claim to have released. Further, Proto Thema publishes sensational stories such as “She has tattoos, she is hot, she is perfect! (sexy photos)”.
On political issues such as immigration, Proto Thema negatively reports here and here. Finally, a Europa.eu evaluation report describes Proto Thema as “It is known for its populist orientation and hate speech approach mainly to migration and migrant-related news and themes.” Proto Thema covers the Trump Administration mostly through mcclatchydc.com and the factually mixed NDTV. Proto Thema generally demonstrates a right-leaning editorial bias and is not a reliable source for factual information.
Failed Fact Checks (shortlist of many)
- Did scientists discover DNA proving the original Native Americans were white? – False
- Video shows a crowd of German citizens outside a supermarket for the supply of goods due to the coronavirus. – False
- Reports state that there was a fierce clash between Greek and Skopje teenagers over the name “Macedonia” in Neos Poros, Pieria, during a trip by a Skopje handball team. – False
- A photo has been circulating on the internet since last night claiming that a dog saved a cat from the floods in Bosnia. – False
- Was the Olympia Odos highway filled with banknotes? – False
Overall, we rate Proto Thema Right Biased and Questionable due to poor sourcing, lack of transparency with ownership, and numerous failed fact checks. (M. Huitsing 7/17/2020) Updated (05/07/2022)
Source: http://en.protothema.gr/
Last Updated on June 30, 2023 by Media Bias Fact Check
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