The news ladies recount personal stories and shed light on the invisible side of their job and their career.
Moderator
Christos Chomenidis, Writer
Experts
Mara Zacharea, Journalist
Niki Lymperaki, Journalist
Sia Kosioni, Journalist
Elli Stai, Journalist
To watch the full Experts Talk video
Women have dominated the newscasts of the country's channels. Dynamic journalists with extensive experience in front of and behind the cameras undertake the daily information of the public, having cultivated a relationship of intimacy and, above all, trust with it.
Since 1966, with the start of the television signal in Greece, until today, many things have changed in the news bulletins in terms of practice or aesthetics. But for the person who is called to present the news, the feelings and the requirements of his role are the same. This is an exciting but very demanding profession. It takes daily hard work, including adhering to strict deadlines, making quick decisions, sobriety and keeping calm under pressure, and the ingenuity required to bring out a news product that can be born live on air.
Author Christos Homenidis welcomes in the ExpertsTalk section of ImpactTalk four leading Greek news presenters, the journalists: Elli Stai, Mara Zaharea, Sia Kosioni and Niki Lymperaki, in a discussion about the present and the future of Greek TV newscast.
The news ladies reveal everything we don’t know about their profession, tell us personal stories, shed light on the invisible side of their career and answer questions about the difficulties and challenges of their job. Finally, they talk about the role they are called to play in shaping public opinion, in a field facing a major change, as the convergence of media is a fact and television has lost its "monopoly" on the information of the public.
Going back in time, what would they advise themselves in the beginning of their career? What do they advise young female journalists, who dream of saying one day: "Good evening ladies and gentlemen this is the bulletin of 8"…?
Christos Chomenidis was born in Athens where he currently lives. He was son to the vice-captain of Greek National Liberation Front (EAM), Vasilis Nefeloudis, who was also general secretary of the Greek Communist Party (KKE) before the war.
He grew up in the centre of Athens, especially in Kypseli where he has been living since then.
He studied law in the University of Athens and attended law courses in the former Soviet Union and communication courses in Athens. At first he worked in a law firm in Athens but he turned quickly into writing.
He appeared as a writer for the first time with a short story for “Playboy” magazine in 1988. In 1993 he published his first novel, “The Wise Child”, which received great recognition, scored high critiques and was translated into French, Italian and Jewish. Today he is one of the most widely-read Greek writers and his books have been translated into French, English, Spanish, Czech, Lithuanian, Turkish and Jewish.
In his works he has been engaged with several and varied topics from the industry of folk songs in the “Voice” to a different version and narration of the Trojan War in his latest book “Her King”.
He was also a radio producer for a lot of years. He works as a columnist for several magazines, newspapers and websites. He’s impulsive, acerbic and always well-read. This is evident in both his writings and his speaking in public.
Social Media
Born in Athens, she studied Economics and Political Science and obtained a master's degree in Journalism and Media from City University, London.
She started her career with journalist Makis Triantafyllopoulos on the radio station "Diavlos 10". The newspapers "Proti" and “Eleftheros Typos” followed. She did political reporting on 902 in the News and on Mega Channel.
In 2001 she started presenting the newscast on the same channel as well as the main newscast from May 2004 and for one year. The “42 minutes” news program followed later.
Since September 2006, together with Nikos Chatzinikolaou, she has been presenting the main news bulletin on Alpha television station.
Since the beginning of 2007 and with the departure of Nikos Chatzinikolaou from Alpha, she’s maintained an active role, this time as the main commentator of the newscast together with Nikos Kakaounakis and with Christos Vasilopoulos as the main anchorman.
In March 2007 she resigned from Alpha where she returned again after two weeks.
From August 16, 2007 until December 14 when she resigned, she presented the main newscast of Alpha (and just for two weeks with Elli Stai who took over the presentation in January 2008).
In 2013 she undertook the presentation of the main newscast of STAR Channel with Nikos Chatzinikolaou as commentator. In 2016, after the departure of the latter, Mara Zacharea started presenting the main newscast of the channel and since October 2017 she has taken over the News Directorate of STAR.
Social Media
https://instagram.com/marazaharea?utm_medium=copy_link
Niki Lymperaki was born in Athens. She is a graduate of the Law School of the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, but she never practiced law, as she was already working as a journalist when she was a student.
From 2002, when she started working as a journalist, until today, she has worked in a number of radio and television media, with an emphasis on external bulletin but also on the presentation of TV shows and news bulletins. She has been working for SKAI since December 2014, while from the beginning of 2017 she’s undertaken the presentation of Central Radio Magazine. From February to May 2019 she presented the “Roua Mat” show.
Since September 2019, she has undertaken the presentation of the main newscast of the television station “Open” and in April 2020 she started presenting the iNFO-19 show for a limited time due to the current events related to the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic.
In January 2020, she received a Botsi Journalism Award for her objective, ethically correct and complete presentation of the main newscast of “Open” TV station.
She speaks English, Italian, Spanish and German.
Social Media
https://instagram.com/nikilymperaki?utm_medium=copy_link
https://twitter.com/nlymperaki?s=11
https://www.facebook.com/nicky.lyberaki
Sia Kosioni was born in Athens. She graduated from the Department of Journalism and Media of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki and continued her studies at the London School of Economics where she received her master's degree in "New Media, Information and Society".
She started her career in Thessaloniki, on radio, television and in the press. In Athens, one of her first collaborations was with Anna Panagiotarea on ERT's show “Nobody is Innocent”. At the same time she presented political news bulletins on radio station SuperSport FM (now BwinSPORT FM 94.6).
Her next collaboration was with newspaper SportDay, where she took over the Media column. At that time she also collaborated with Active and Athens Voice magazines. In March 2006 she started working at SKAI TV station. Initially, she did TV reporting and radio broadcasts on the station. She started presenting the main newscast in September 2006. From January 2016 to July 2017 she co-presented with Alexis Papachelas, Pavlos Tsimas and Tasos Telloglou the news show "Stories".
Social Media
https://instagram.com/siakossioni?utm_medium=copy_link
https://twitter.com/skossioni?s=11
Elli Stai was born in Athens and her origin is from Lefkada. She is a graduate of the Law School of the University of Athens and a graduate of Arsakeio School.
She has studied Political Science in France. For a while she worked as a lawyer. She started her journalism career in newspaper “Avgi”, followed by the newspapers “Mesimvrini” and “Acropolis”, in which she made her first front-page report with the interview of Gianni Anielli.
Her television career started on ERT in the early 1980s. At that time she presented the main newscast next to Terence Quick.
Since 1989 she has worked with Flash Radio as a European affairs correspondent in Brussels.
In 1993 she returned to Greece and started presenting the main newscast on SKAI television, inaugurating the "television windows". She then collaborated with Mega Channel television station, presenting the political and social-content show "Hellespont" (1996).
From 1997 to 1999 she presented the main newscast on Star Channel. From 1999 to 2006 she collaborated with ANT1 television station where she initially edited and presented the show "Through the eyes of Elli".
From 2003 until the end of her collaboration with the channel, she also presented the main newscast.
In February 2007 she worked again with Mega Channel, presenting the show "Elli" and at the same time worked as a key commentator in the main newscast presented by journalist Olga Tremi.
A year later (January 2008) she started her collaboration with Alpha Channel where she presented the main newscast with journalist Mara Zacharea and at the same time she edited and presented the show "Persona Grata".
In 2010 she worked for the third time with radio station “Flash” (after the show “Elligmoi” in 1999), presenting a daily show with journalist Nicol Livadari.
In February 2011 she returned to state television again, presenting the main newscast on “NET” Channel.
Social Media
https://instagram.com/ellistai?utm_medium=copy_link
https://twitter.com/ellistai?s=11
