ΟΙ ΤΕΧΝΟΛΟΓΙΚΕΣ ΑΛΛΑΓΕΣ ΣΤΗΝ ΠΑΡΑΓΩΓΗ ΕΦΗΜΕΡΙΔΩΝ ΚΑΙ Ο ΑΝΤΙΚΤΥΠΟΣ ΤΟΥΣ ΣΤΟΥΣ ΕΡΓΑΤΕΣ ΤΥΠΟΥ. Η ΠΕΡΙΠΤΩΣΗ ΤΗΣ ΠΑΤΡΑΣ ΜΕΤΑ ΤΟΝ Β ́ ΠΑΓΚΟΣΜΙΟ ΠΟΛΕΜΟ

Abstract

Akis Palaiologos, The Changes on Printing Technology of Newspapers and their Consequences on the Press Workers: the Case of Patras after World War II

The article tries to examine the shift in the working methods of the Press workers of Patra's, caused from the changes on printing technology of newspapers, regarding a period from the mid 1950s to the mid 1990s.

Technological changes can be defined as the transition from the manual typesetting to the mechanical typesetting and particularly linotype, or later on the photo typesetting and digital type setting. These four methods constitute the implemented technology of Patra's newspapers regarding the aforementioned period. Thus, the particular study tries to demonstrate the effect of these methods on the operations of the employ- ees and the manners that the workers adopted to confront these changes.

The consequences of these changes were complex and concerned with the work specialization, division of labour, the relationship among publishers and Press workers as well as the control of labour supply. Additionally, the study attempts to present the issues emerged from the adoption of photo typesetting and digital typesetting in the professional body of Printers nationally.

The core of the article is based on the Master thesis of the author. As far as concern the primary sources, the archive of the Workers Press As­ sociation of Patras was used, that is the union of press workers, national and local newspapers as well as employees' oral interviews.

The article is consisted of five chapters. In the first chapter a brief description is given considering the editorial trajectory of Patras press. The following four chapters refer to the aforementioned technological transitions, their respective effects on the technical staff and the stand of the press workers towards the specific shift.