(This article was originally published in German language on the 28th June 2015.)
In the early afternoon around the central Syntagma Square I finally note that people are standing in front of cash machines. Until noon today that was not the case. Soon the first machines no longer give money. But is this already a bankrun? I think no. For there is no crush, no panic, nothing of the kind. When I ask a Greek lady who I saw before from the other side of the street trying to get cash from one of the machines whether she still got money out of it she laughs and denies. Nevertheless, people are certainly concerned and they are right.
While I pass by a side street not far from the Syntagma Square, I see a bunch of people in front of one of the office buildings. Shortly thereafter I know: these are all journalists, and this is the Ministry of Finance. It is rumoured that Varoufakis will give a statement in the afternoon. Media people from all over the world have gathered. The interesting thing, though they report each day on the subject none of them I talked to has an opinion on the development of the last few days or of Europe as a whole. What a contrast to the people I asked so far while travelling to and through southern Europe. The journalists are just waiting. Some conversation, but just small talk. No comparison to how people discuss in the cafes and restaurants. “We only report”, argues one of the journalist. All the more surprising then the one-sidedness that characterises so many reporting. The journalist is not a neutral party. He of course should approach reality as close as possible. But exactly that so many journalists don´t do. Since reality, of course, is not about plunging like a pack on Varoufakis or whomever, immersing him in a popping of flashbulbs and throwing some short questions at him.
But the journalists have been waiting exactly to do so. And I joined them. Not because it makes any sense to me what they do, but to be certain that this is “journalism” for them. Imagine, it is! It is their daily work.
Varoufakis has finally escaped through a side entrance after the pack was lured two or three times in the wrong direction and then back again. And they followed the lure like maniacs. Absolutely crazy. And absolutely unnecessary. However, at least there was kind of a Varoufakisrun, though no bankrun.
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