SHORT BIO
George Pleios Ph.D, was born in Athens Greece. He studied Sociology (BA and MA) in the Department of Sociology, Faculty of Philosophy, at the University of Sofia “Kliment Ohridski”. At the same University, he completed in 1987 his doctoral studies in Sociology of Culture and Mass Media. His doctoral thesis “Cinema as Artistic Communication” was on Sociology of Cinema.
After his military service, he worked as adjunct professor at the Department of Sociology, University of Crete since 1990 – 1993. During 1994 – 1996 he worked as adjunct professor at the Department of Primary Education, University of Ioannina and in 1996 he was elected lecturer in the same department (1996 – 2001).
Since 2001 he is Professor at the Department of Communication and Media Studies of the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens. Since 2003 he is Director of the Laboratory for Social Research in Mass Media.
He has taught as Visiting Professor at the Kadir Has University, Istanbul, Turkey (2019), at the School of Journalism, Fudan University, Shanghai, China (2018), at the Institute of Journalism “Taras Shevchentko”, National University of Ukraine (2014), at the Department of Journalism, Fredrick University (Cyprus) (2012), at the Sofia University “St Kliment Ohridski (Bulgaria) (2011), and he has given lectures as invited speaker in the ELTE University of Budapest (Hungary, in 2013, 2016, 2017 and 2019), in the Institute of Social Sciences in Lisbon (Portugal, 1n 2013) and in the Cyprus University of Technology (2016), Malaysia (2019), as well as at various Universities in Greece.
Alone or in collaboration with other authors he has published seven books, twenty-one chapters in edited volumes in Greece and abroad, more than forty papers in Greek and international journals, and has presented more than fifty papers in academic conferences in Greece and internationally. Works of him have been published in UK, USA, Spain, Portugal, Bulgaria, Romania, China, Australia and Turkey. He conducts regularly research of Greek printed, television and online news and has conducted more than 25 research projects as Primary Investigator. Selected recent publications: The social construction of crises and the media: from debt crisis to “refugee crisis (forthcoming – along with Nicos Fokasz and Peter Bodor), Fake news. The syneresis of news and propaganda (November 2020, Gutenberg Publishing), News and ambient journalism (forthcoming, Publishing House of the Greek Parliament), The transformation of media democracy (2020), Media ethics and news in Greece during crisis (2020), Representation of women politicians and of gender violence in the Greek media: content analysis of newspapers, portals and tv stations (with others (2020), Refugee communication and strategic crisis, (2016), The politics of news (2016), Problemas sociales e Internet: de la individualización al aislamiento social y la desigualdad social (2016), Communication and Symbolic Capitalism. Rethinking Marxist Communication Theory in the Light of the Information Society (2015), Facebook and crisis: alternative information or adjustment? (2015), The news of crisis (2015), Social media in time of crisis (2014), Crisis and the media: from the political logic towards a second-degree media logic (2014), H1N1 and news. Information or panic? (2014). Crisis and the media (2013, edited volume).
Some of his recent research projects are: The coverage of the coronavirus health crisis by the Greek media (2020), The pandemics and the stance of citizens in Cyprus (2020), A model of Communication Crisis Management Center regarding human made disasters in Greece (2018 – 2019), Social roles and gender stereotypes in the Greek media (TV news), The Coverage of Gender-Based Violence on the Greek Television: A Comparative Overview of Informative Content of TV Stations (2018), Capacity building for women candidates and media stakeholders in public debates in Greece (2019 – 2020), The media coverage of the Greek referendum 2015 (2015 – 2016), Journalistic Ethics and the Greek Media (2014 – 2015), Crisis, Golden Down and the Media (2014), Crisis and political behavior – the representation of the right wing parties in the Greek media (2014), Crisis and the Facebook (2013).
He is a member of many Greek and international academic organizations, former Vice-President and currently President of the Hellenic Sociological Society (HSS). During 2011 – 2014 he was Vice Coordinator of the Research Network 18 (Media Sociology) of the European Sociological Association. Between 2011 – 2015 and since December 2017 – he is Chairman of the Department of Communication and Media Studies, University of Athens. He is also a former member of the Supervisory Board of the European Centre for Press Freedom and Media Freedom (ECPMF). Since November 2016 he is board member the Greek National Council for Radio and Television (NCRTV).
He speaks and writes Greek (maternal), English: Very Well, Bulgarian: Very Well, Russian: Fair (mainly read), French: Faire (mainly read).