Executive editor of the Sydney Morning Herald, Peter Kerr, has apologised to the Greek community over an opinion piece written by Paul Sheehan that labelled the Greeks as “cheats.”
The opinion piece, published on Thursday 15 September titled Throw out cheating Greece before the rot cripples rest of the world, provoked an outcry from the Greek community demanding an apology.
Peter Theophilou, President of the NSW Intercommunities Council of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of Australia sent the letter of complaint to the Sydney Morning Herald on 22 September because he was “insulted” and “angered” by the opinion piece. The letter stated that the council was disappointed by the, “slanderous, degrading and general statements,” made by journalist Paul Sheehan in the piece.
In the article, Sheehan made a wavering connection between the current financial crisis in Greece and Australian superannuation funds saying that although, “Greece may be far away… it is dragging down the value of your superannuation,” through the impact on the global share market. Sheehan then went on to say that, “the root cause of the problem is simple. The national sport of Greece is cheating. Cheating across every tier of society,” putting his journalistic integrity at risk.
In response to this, Theophilou wrote in the letter: “It is … true that tax evasion, undisclosed wealth and incorrect policies have contributed to Greece’s economic problems. It is however, slanderous to say that the problem has resulted from cheating and then proceed to brand all Greek people as a nation of cheats.” However, in this week’s opinion piece, Sheehan uses a diplomatic tone and watered down journalistic style for an opinion writer, which Theophilou believes is due to the impact the letters of complaints the Sydney Morning Herald have received after the aforementioned article. Even online, the article has sparked a outpour of emotion by readers. As it stands there are 132 comments posted by disgruntled readers.
Neos Kosmos understands that various Greek community groups have sent letters of complaint to the Sydney Morning Herald but only the NSW Intercommunities Council of the Greek Orthodox of Australia, have received a reply.
