Furore as Sydney press goads Greece

Thursday 15 September marked a black day in Australian journalism. In a remarkable rant by the Sydney Morning Herald, the Fairfax newspaper took aim at Greece and Greeks with a volley of insults and invective. Within hours of the article's publication, reaction from Greece and the Greek Australian community has been swift and strong.

In a story that plumbed the depths of Australian journalistic standards, the SMH took the extraordinary step of promoting itself as an advisor to eurozone leaders with the headline 'Throw out cheating Greece before the rot cripples rest of the world'. The 900 word opinion piece, written by SMH columnist Paul Sheehan, went on to vilify Greece and Greek people drawing spurious connections between the economic crisis in Greece and the value of Australian superannuation funds.

Counsellor for Press at the Consulate General of Greece in Sydney, Mr Nicholas Economidis in a letter to the newspaper, has expressed the Consulate's discontent with the article's tone and content, accusing the paper of making insulting statements. The Greek Ambassador to Australia, Alexios Christopoulos, expressed his dismay over the article. "It is a ridiculous article because of the way that it is expressed," said the Ambassador. "It reminds me of the old times, like the extremes and incitements which created the Second World War."

In his startling diatribe, Sheehan's first paragraph set the tone for the rest of article:"Greece may be far away… but it is dragging down the value of your superannuation because its problems are a drag on the global sharemarket. The root cause of the problem is simple. The national sport of Greece is cheating. Cheating across every tier of society."

The article went on to make sweeping generalisations concerning levels of corruption in Greece, including the suggestion that illegal betting in Greek soccer was a metaphor for a national malaise, that had single-handedly resulted in the Greek economic crisis, and which had then gone on to threaten world markets and subsequently, the value of Australian superannuation funds.

The invective used by the SMH journalist to support his highly-questionable claims goes as close as any respected Australian newspaper in recent times has gone to making overtly abusive and ethnically racist statements. The Greek Consulate in New South Wales has written to the Sydney Morning Herald asking that the newspaper print the Consulate's response to the article in full. Following publication on the SMH website, within hours more than 130 comments were posted online in response. Most took great exception to what they had read.

Neos Kosmos leaves the last word to SMH readers:

"I find [the] article quite disturbing not just in its poor form of an attempted piece of journalism but in its racial provocations. To generalise and label all Greeks as cheaters "across every tier of society" is absurd. Equally absurd is your attempts to justify your reasoning as to why the Greek economy is failing." -AlphaAlex

"The usual hate-journalism... A racist diatribe that shames this newspaper. Replace Greeks with Jews and see what would happen. Most offensive is the use of the execrable acronym 'pigs'..." - Bazarov

"So much vitriol towards the Greeks. What about the profligate Irish who thought that potato famines were a thing of the past and they were all rich by borrowing to invest in houses? Or the delusional and corrupt Yanks who created the mess to begin with? A simple test is this. If you write something about a people and claim it is a 'characteristic', try substituting in say 'Jew' instead of that 'ethnicity'. If what you've written sounds unacceptable, then what you've written is offensive." - Simeon

"... linking dodgy football clubs and cheating athletes to a corrupt society and bankrupt economy is flawed logic. One would never claim that Australia is a corrupt society because the Melbourne Storm cooked the books. Nor would you imply that American people are corrupt because their credit rating agencies gave AAA ratings to derivative products that were backed by dodgy mortgages. Furthermore, Greek PM George Papandreou was the man who pointed out to the world that the books were cooked, not Goldman Sachs... In regards to Super, blame the poor performance on American bankers whose actions lead to the world's biggest economy facing their biggest economic crisis since the great depression (as opposed to Greece, an economy the size of Victoria's)..." - Paul

"What a hateful and vitriolic article... just plain nasty. Try running your propositions through to their conclusion instead of just making grand hateful statements. The current crisis is a walk in the park compared to what would happen if Greece were kicked out of the EU." - Anonymous

"Yup, them no-good cheatn' Greeks, what have they ever done for us? Hey Sheehan, Sheik of Lies, why don't you focus on some of the massive tax-payer funded rorts here in Australia... No need to look overseas. But I reckon the Sheik of Lies is blind to the rorts of his mates in his own backyard. Easier to talk about those darn Greeks." - Alexander der Grosse