Press Freedom Coalition Sounds the Alarm about Greece

Nearly a year after the death of investigative reporter Giorgos Karaivaz, Greece's New Democracy government has failed to investigate the killing and to improve the overall safety of journalists. Those critical of the government are most at risk.

Speaking at the launch of a new report from the press freedom coalition Media Freedom Rapid Response (MFRR), EFJ Director Renate Schroeder said “Contrary to the authorities’ promises progress [in the Karaivaz investigation] has been has been very slow and lacks transparency.”

“This has had a very chilling effect and led to a lot of mistrust to the government's ability to protect the journalistic community at large.”

The MFRR report Controlling the Message: Challenges for Independent Reporting in Greece was put together after a fact-finding mission and interviews with 30 stakeholders.

Giorgos Karaivaz

In addition to problems with the Karaivaz investigation, which included months of silence from Greek police, the report also pointed to a anti-misinformation law passed in November 2021.

This makes it a criminal offence to publish information “capable of causing concern or fear to the public or undermining public confidence in the national economy, the country’s defense capacity or public health.” There are fears that journalists, civil society or members of the public critical of government policies could potentially fall foul of the new law, which carries a maximum penalty of five years’ imprisonment.

Laurens C. Hueting, ECPMF's Senior Advocacy Officer said that “the challenges to press freedom in Greece are systemic … It's a toss-up between the frequency of and lack of accountability for violations committed by law enforcement, whether in the context of protest or migration, and the various legal threats.” These include SLAPPS (Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation) legal moves by the rich and powerful aimed at silencing reporters and draining their finances.

“Those two phenomena really bring home the impression of a suffocating atmosphere in which it is very difficult to be a critical, independent journalist, both 'in the streets' and behind one's desk.”

Anne ter Rele, Advocacy Officer at the Vienna-based International Press Institute, echoed the concerns about SLAPPs:

“Greek reporters don't always have the funds, time or the means to fight these … it's very expensive and time consuming, especially for smaller outlets and it might have a chilling effect on other journalists who might refrain from reporting.”

The findings of the report are particularly concerning given the current political climate in Greece. The MFRR report tracks a deterioration in press freedom since the conservative New Democracy party came to power in 2019. Contributors say Greece’s current government is “obsessed with controlling the message” and “minimizing critical and dissenting voices:”

“News that is inconvenient or unflattering for the government, which includes reporting on serious human rights violations, does not get reported in many outlets, creating a significant obstacle for the public’s access to information and, subsequently, their informed participation in the democratic process.”

Some journalists in Greece are feeling this pressure directly, with journalists covering protests and migration most likely to be affected. The report describes incidents where journalists have found themselves the target of demonstrators and police. Iliana Papangeli, Project Manager for Greek website Solomon, which focuses on migration issues, said one of its journalists had been surveilled by the state intelligence service.

“When we found out we had absolutely no idea what to do next. How far do they go? Do they also follow us secretly? Are we being seen as a threat? Are we in any kind of danger?”

Migration policy is a particularly sensitive subject in Greece, which has found itself at the sharp end of the refugee crisis. For the past year, Greece has been pushing back refugees from its borders, a practice which runs contrary to international law, resulting in an unknown number of deaths. Conditions in recently-opened EU-funded reception centres (which those seeking asylum are not permitted to leave) are also of significant public interest.

Without answering specific allegations, a Greek government spokesman Giannis Oikonomou tweeted that: “Greece is a European Rule of Law country and the independence of the press is constitutionally guaranteed. Pluralism & freedom of speech and criticism are a daily practice.”

Greece fell five places in the RSF 2021 World Press Freedom Index, which described a “dangerous cocktail for press freedom” in the country which has the fourth worst ranking of any EU member state.

Greece's media field is dominated by newspapers and sites with political ties, and agendas, leaving little room for independent journalists and news sites. Those that do exist, according to the MFRR report, are likely to become targets of government scrutiny.

A survey carried out by German think tank the Friedrich Naumann Foundation last year found eight out of ten Greeks believe the media is controlled by the government or political parties, while two-thirds do not believe the that Greek news broadcasts are accurate. Another recent survey produced for Greek think tank the Eteron Institute found that just 10.7 percent of people trust the media.

Working journalists who contributed to the MFRR report, in turn, reported that they felt restricted in their work, both from safety concerns and from political pressure. Foreign correspondents were not exempt from this pressure, with the MFRR reporting incidents where the Mitsotakis administration had attempted to undermine journalists’ credibility with their editors.

The situation for those covering controversial issues in a way the government may not like is difficult. Iliana Papangeli described the predicament of journalists covering the migration crisis:

“Every time we visit islands we fear anything could happen to use, that we could be arrested or interrogated by the authorities. There is no government willingness or ability to protect journalists in Greece.

“We are the target right now, the ones they want to control, not the ones they want to protect unless we tell the story they want told.”