The saga over whether or not Yanis Varoufakis raised his middle finger during a conference in Zagreb in 2013 has taken yet another twist.
Yesterday the satirist Jans Boehmermann caused a stir when he claimed on his satirical program Neo Magazin Royale that his team had actually faked the video in which Varoufakis had appeared to raise his middle finger at Germany in an elaborate prank.
However that account has been revealed itself to be untrue by ZDF, Boehmermann’s network in an official statement.
In a tweet the network wrote that it would consider prefacing all of Neo Magazin Royale’s shows with the warning ‘Caution, Satire!’
In short, the video claiming the original was a fake, was itself a fake in a wry piece of satire that fooled many in the media who reported the 'admission' as fact.
The claim and counterclaim has seen the hashtag #Varoufake trending heavily on Twitter.
The original video of Varoufakis making the gesture was played on a German panel show a few days ago in which the minister took part. He initially denied ever having made the gesture claiming that the video had been doctored. The gesture and subsequent denial saw Varoufakis come under intense criticism in the German media.
However even before Boehmermann’s spoof video was released yesterday, many (including this site) noted that the original gesture was taken out of context by those claiming outrage, and by focusing on the perceived slight, the media was ignoring the broader discussion over the wider handling of the euro-zone crisis.
Point about @neomagazin isn't whether it faked or not but that it exposes superficial & divisive nature of debate in eurozone #varoufake
— Nick Malkoutzis (@NickMalkoutzis) March 19, 2015 According to Srecko Horvat, quoted in Frankfurter Allgemeine, the organizer of the Zagreb event, Varoufakis’s point when he made the gesture was more subtle.
“It must be said, a once and for all: Varoufakis did not extend the middle finger 'against the Germans.' In this presentation in Zagreb Varoufakis talked about a time in May 2010, when Greece did not owe German taxpayers a single euro. His argument was that Greece should have defaulted on its private creditors instead of accepting an enormous loan from its European partners. The finger was taken out of context and deliberately mis-interpreted as the Greek finance minister arguing against the repayment of debts to Germany and showing Germany the finger.”
Some may see Boehmermann’s latest stunt as irresponsible given the increasingly fragile state of the negotiations regarding Greece’s future in the euro, with Greek-German relations at a low point.
However others would argue that it is the news media who are supposed to be the serious ones, not comedians. And the trolling of Europe's media has certainly raised valid questions about the speed with which information is reported and commented upon without being properly evaluated, or even verified.
For his part Boehmermann had the following to say:
Want a quote in English? pic.twitter.com/n2HGSj74El #varoufake
— Jan Böhmermann (@janboehm) March 19, 2015
Οι πιο πρόσφατες Ειδήσεις
Διαβάστε πρώτοι τις Ειδήσεις για ό,τι συμβαίνει τώρα στην Ελλάδα και τον Κόσμο στο thetoc.gr
