There is a very weird thing going on right now in Greece. A blog is attacked on two fronts for doing what newspapers should be doing; informing people.
Troktiko is a blog that enjoys vast popularity among Greeks everywhere, being the fifth most popular site after Google, Facebook, YouTube and Blogger.
This blog has no advertising nor does it ever wish to. It regularly posts opinions of its visitors and does not shrug at facing off against anyone, from politicians, to taxi drivers, to simple people that appropriate parts of public streets outside their home to facilitate their parking needs.
One of the fronts comes from a high profile journalist in Greece who filed a suit against them for slander. The Greek court this case went to decided to summarily shut the blog down, but the administrators managed to bring it back up as this ruling was illegal; no chance was given to the owners of the blog for rebuttal or explanations and when the admins took action to point that out, there was nothing left to do but put the site back online.
This points out the need for a response in whatever one feels that is wrong. Had the admins not responded or acted on the premise that “a court told us to shut it down so we can do nothing” the blog would not exist any more.
On a personal note, I don’t know if a blog, or any publication or indeed a person, has a right to just characterise someone with an term that is neither supported by or describes a wrongful action he committed but simply is a term of derision. I would hope not, and in that I find troktiko in fault. However, the court’s ruling was reached summarily and without due process and as such it is illegal.
On the other front, it is reputed that there is a football scandal brewing right now for which the owners of the blog have evidence. They claim that Google itself has notified them that the posting of this material will result in the blog being shut down. Currently, posts in the blog say that they will ignore such “warnings” and they will post it soon, not succumbing to intimidation tactics.