After more than 40 years of continuous operation in Sydney, Greek language newspaper ‘O Kosmos’ announced it will cease publishing.
The imminent closure was made known by the newspaper with a frontpage announcement advising readers that its last issue will be printed on Friday 14 July.
It marks a sad end of an era for Kosmos’ loyal readers and Australia’s first-generation Greek diaspora more broadly.
George Hatzivassilis, who was at the helm of the newspaper’s editorial policy and content before Yiannis Dramitinos took over and continued in the role to this day, told Neos Kosmos he was “deeply saddened” to hear the news:
“A lot of effort was put in to help the newspaper continue. Unfortunately, they didn’t pay fruit. I feel sorry for our readers, an elderly cohort in their majority, who will not be able to access it anymore.
“Kosmos was like a good friend to them. And I am very sorry for all our elderly who relied on it as a platform to have their voice heard.”
O Kosmos was founded in the early 1980s, initially twice per week and then four times weekly before downsizing to one edition every seven days during the pandemic.
The founding team consisted of the late publisher of Neos Kosmos Dimitri Gogos with then Labor Senator Takis Kaldis, with George Messaris as the editorial lead.
George Tserdanis was the newspaper’s first editor-in-chief and the initial writers’ team included George and Joanne Messaris, Tassos Nerantzis and Dimitri Ikonomou. Jim Ventouris was in charge of advertising and sales.
In 1988, Gogos, the sole director of O Kosmos at the time, sold it to Dimitri Skouloudis.
Spiro Haralambous is the current owner of the newspaper.
Neos Kosmos reached out to Mr Haralambous for comment but did not receive a response. The newspaper’s last issue next Friday is expected to host articles from both current and past contributors.
