Despite the dwindling numbers, there are still a large number of
Greek-born immigrants who use the newspaper to tie them back to their roots.
Despite the rise of technology and high speed communication, the Greek newspapers have remained important to the cultural
values of the Astoria residents
History of the Greek press
The amount of Greek newspapers that have existed in America is quite high, an amount inversely related to the amount still in publication today. This is due to the fact that, as time went on, the newspapers for Greek Americans began to slowly disappear in publication and frequency, with sixty or so following this trend since the early Twentieth Century (Moskos 47)34 However, this allowed the prominent and bigger players in the printed press game to take over from where their less successful competitors left off. In the case of Greek newspapers, the victors came to be The National Herald and Atlantis (47)34. Before those two rose to prominence, however, many other newspapers existed, giving many Greek Americans the much wanted insight into the political and social events going on back home (The National Herald, “About Us”)35.
Organosis, a primarily Socialist,
and now defunct, Greek Newspaper. Photo courtesy of Greek American Radicals.
The first Greek American newspaper was the Boston-based New World, ΝέοςΚόσμος in Greek, which was founded in 1892. From then on, Greek American newspapers like Greek Star, Loxias, Athena, The Immigrant, and The Daily Mail began appearing in cities like Chicago, New York, and Boston, where, unsurprisingly, many Greek immigrants gathered to establish themselves in the United States. Most of the newspapers were formed with the owners and publishers own political leanings, and before 1922, were published in Greek. That year, the American-Hellenic World became the first Greek American newspaper that was published in english (Moskos 47)34.
Most regular readers of the Greek press found that this move was an affront to the idea that the newspapers connected the reader to their homeland through not just the news, but through the use of the native tongue. However, English began to take root as the next generation, the children of the immigrants, started to read the newspapers (47)34, prompting other publishers to adopt the language as well (The National Herald, “About Us”)35.
Photo courtesy of The National Herald.
The National Herald has remained one of, if not the major source of Greek news in America for what is now a little over 100 years. The mainly liberal newspaper garnered its successes by adapting to the economic depressions, the loss of subscribers, and the other rapid changes that occurred during Twentieth Century.
On April 2, 1915, wealthy Greek merchant Petros Tatanis used the $100,000 he had saved to found Ethnikos Kyrix, otherwise known as The National Herald (Papacosma 51)36. The newly established daily paper began operating out of West 26th Street in Manhattan (The National Herald, “The National Herald’s First Century”)37, published in the customary Greek. However, maintaining a newspaper is not easy, especially with the rather fast mortality rate of the immigrant-centered newspapers (Moskos 47)34. On top of keeping subscriptions up and profitable levels, The National Herald was forced to contend with another big name Greek newspaper: Atlantis
Solon J. Vlastos and Demetrius J. Vlastos,
founders of Atlantis. Photos courtesy of Wikipedia.
Atlantis was established in 1894 by Solon G. and Demetrius Vlastos . The main conflict between the two papers was not for subscriptions, but rather what the two papers represented. Atlantis held a strictly conservative political view, while The National Herald liberal and progressive in style(Moskos 48)34.
Eleftherios Venizelos,
Prime Minister of Greece. Photo courtesy of Wikipedia.
While this would normally call for a generic rivalry, the time period the papers were published in were times of social and political upheaval around the world. World War I, the Greco-Turkish War of 1919, and the National Schism event left the Greek immigrants desperate for news of the state of their homeland. Just as Greece itself began to split socially and politically, the news reported by The National Herald and Atlantis did the same to the Greek immigrants. Readers either sided with King Constantine I and the monarchy (48-49)34, or the liberal views of Prime Minister Eleftherios Venizelos (The National Herald, “The National Herald’s First Century”)37.
As time went on, however, readership for both papers began to decline. Starting in the 1930s, circulation went from a high ~30,000 to ~13,000 each. The decline took its toll on the competing papers, but in the end, it was Atlantis that paid the biggest price. In 1972, Solon G. Vlastos, the nephew of the founder, was forced to shut down the long running paper (Moskos 48-49)34.
Because of the fall of its long time rival, The National Herald was able to thrive without threat of relative competition. In 1979, Antonis Diamataris took over the paper as publisher (The National Herald, “About Us”)35. Understanding that times were changing, not just for immigrants but for the American people as well, Diamataris executed many changes to management and production that allowed the paper to survive past the usual immigrant paper “due date”. He moved the headquarters of the paper to Astoria, Queens, the main hub of everything Greek in New York, while also maintaining offices in New England (Moskos 49-50)34. Knowing that the new generation of Greek Americans, and Americans in general, spoke English primarily, he ordered a new weekly publication of the Herald that would be printed in English in 1997. These production decisions have allowed The National Herald to survive 100 years, but to now enjoy the success of being the most successful Greek-American newspaper to date.
100 Years of Greek News – The National Herald. Photos courtesy of The National Herald.
Greek Newspapers in the Present
Modern day National Herald in
English and Greek.
While The National Herald has nothing to fear in terms of true competition, smaller periodicals have surfaced in recent years. A free weekly called Hellas News began publication in the Greek language in 1993, and the liberal Greek News was founded in 2003, published in both Greek and English. Interestingly, as the Greek press began publishing in English, it began covering more local events and well-known political and social happenings abroad, in a more general display of news. In the same thread, more and more people are turning towards other faster, more readily available sources of information(Moskos 50)34.
Perhaps this change is natural, reflecting the population shift from foreign-born Greek immigrants to the English speaking second generation. Or maybe it shows the general decline of the newspaper, in both purpose and use, especially considering other periodicals have adopted them same way of appealing to the modern day fast paced reader. However, despite the changes that have occurred, it is always important to remember the cultural and social value granted by the newspaper.
-Kent Williams
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