The talks on the Cyprus problem at Crans-Montana, Switzerland (28.06 – 07.07.17) and the Greek-Cypriot Press: The views of newspapers Alithia, Politis and Haravgi

Abstract

This paper focuses on the period of negotiations between the Greek-Cypriot and Turkish-Cypriot community at Crans-Montana, Switzerland, from 28 June to 7 July 2017. It looks into the views of the three leading Greek-Cypriot newspapers of that period and aims to present the positions of each newspaper about the negotiations on the Cyprus problem, at political level. Articles from three newspapers (Alithia, Politis and Haravgi) were studied, with an emphasis on political coverage regarding the negotiations. For the Crans-Montana negotiations on the Cyprus problem, the agenda setting approach was used, according to which, an event becomes an important from a journalist’s perspective, not only because it is unexpected and/ or dramatic, but also because it attracts a great deal of public attention and the significance of the event itself may, for example, lead to intense public judgment, tension or concerns. The research questions of the paper were shaped as follows: Τo what extent were the newspapers in favour of a solution to the problem? Did they have a conflicting or reconciling tone? To what extent did the style and tone of the news items regarding the talks vary depending on the newspaper? To what extent did the news items focus on persons taking part in the talks and the topics of the talks? Were the articles signed or not? Findings suggest that the Greek Cypriot press during the negotiations have faith that the Cyprus issue can be resolved through the talks. The overarching aim is to understand the efforts made to solve the Cyprus problem through the negotiations in Switzerland and to examine the positions of the Cypriot press regarding this thorny and crucial issue, over which the Republic of Cyprus has been agonising for more than forty years.