You are a multimedia journalist and storyteller with an extensive experience in reporting. Could you share a bit about your background and what drew you to become a journalist?
I grew up in several countries thanks to my father’s work as an economist and attended international schools since a young age. This led me to be curious about the world around me, trying to understand the bigger picture and accepting cultural differences almost instinctively. By the time I was at university, looking for ways to reveal injustice and promote human rights became a passion, so journalism felt like a natural path for me.
Migration has been at the core of your coverage as a journalist, particularly in your native Greece, which is a major entry point for migration in Europe. Could you tell us more about why this topic captivates you?
The 1990s was a very turbulent time in my region. The war in Yugoslavia dominated a lot of the news throughout the 1990s. My first big assignment on the field was during the Kosovo war. In 1999 I spent several months at the Albanian border, as close to half a million refugees were fleeing the war. Witnessing the despair of entire families with young children on their journey to safety had a profound effect on me.
I have been covering migration, an incredibly complex and multifaceted issue, since. I remember the first boats I saw arriving on Greek shores in the mid-2000s. I was shocked to find out that on these rubber boats making the perilous journey from Turkey to Greece there were many unaccompanied minors, boys aged 15 or 16, who in many cases had not seen the sea before and who of course could not swim. At the time, I wrote a long magazine feature titled ‘Crossing the river Aegean’. This was indicative to me of how vulnerable these boys were – and so many like them still are.
This is all prior to the big refugee crisis in Greece in 2015-2016, which saw over a million people from war torn countries reach the EU through Greece in search of a safer and better future. Dealing with the horrendous conditions at the Greek camps at the time was a real challenge for me. There was a lot of humanity among the chaos but also a lot of despair. I think the most difficult part was that there were people I would meet who would turn to me for answers or help; and I was not able to give them the answers or help they needed.
You are particularly interested in the media coverage of climate mobility and climate-induced migration. How do these phenomena manifest in the Mediterranean region, and why is it important to cover it from a journalist perspective?
The link between migration and climate change has only entered the public discourse more recently. In many cases, it accounts primarily for internal migration particularly in the European and Mediterranean context. The large summer wildfires in Greece in the last few years and the floods that followed have had a great impact on agricultural areas. Despite some help mostly in the form of subsidies, many farmers, beekeepers, and other affected groups had no choice but to move or at least change profession.
All scientific research shows that these phenomena will not only continue but become more extreme. In order for journalism to be more impactful, the backing of science is really fundamental on this topic. One of the things we discuss at the Oxford Climate Journalism Network, run by the Reuters Institute, of which I am a member, is on how to break down science in a way that is easier for media consumers to understand and appreciate. Linking science to audiovisual material that can, for example, be turned into TV reports is something I am very keen on exploring.
The challenge for all stories, whether on migration or climate change, is how to engage different audiences. The success of some of my award-winning and, in my opinion, most significant work, is about weaving interesting narratives and using less conventional formats and context to tell the story. In 2020, for example, I produced for CNN International an audiovisual immersive experience called Life in a Camp. This video installation was shot with 360 cameras and depicted the everyday life of migrants and refugees in a Greek camp. The audiovisual project, an installation covering the four walls of an entire room, was exhibited at The Imperial War Museum in London, to much critical acclaim.
What was really interesting for me is that visitors came out of that room saying that for the first time they got a feeling of what life in a refugee camp must be like. This idea of ‘relating’ has dominated my storytelling since. Storytelling is a powerful tool, and it becomes much more powerful powered by science.
What are your expectations during your time at the EUI, both in terms of personal and professional development? What are you most excited about as you begin this residency?
Three years ago, I had the great honour of being selected as a Yale World Fellow and was able to spend several months at this prestigious university. Collaborating with professors and researchers at Yale has enabled me to think and rethink specific stories knowing they could be backed by science.
I am very much in support of further strengthening dialogue between researchers and journalists. I am thrilled that through the Journalist in Residence initiative, hosted by the EUI Max Weber Programme, I am given the opportunity to further some of the work I started at Yale as well as be able to find out more about the cutting-edge research produced at the EUI, particularly in lesser-known topics, and see how this can be further incorporated in the media.
Elinda Labropoulou will deliver two workshops during her stay at the EUI. On 2 December, Elinda will present ‘Academia and The News: Migration Reporting and In-Depth Analysis’, approaching how high-quality journalism from the field can be backed by academic research. Max Weber Fellow Imogen Bayley and Policy Leader Fellow Valentina Bacchin will join the workshop as discussants.
On 6 December, she will host ‘The Art of Academic Storytelling’, sharing tips and tricks for getting powerful research greater media coverage. Iva Nenadić, scientific coordinator at the Centre for Media Pluralism and Media Freedom (CMPF), will act as moderator.
This initiative is funded by the EUI Widening Europe Programme. With contributions from the European Union and EUI Contracting States, the programme is designed to strengthen internationalisation, competitiveness, and quality in research in targeted Widening countries, and thus foster more cohesive European Higher Education and Research Areas.