53 Final Country Report

State of Greek Media: Backwards Progress

In my essay I will discuss the regression of press freedom in Greece following the financial crisis, and how this has created a hostile media environment in the present day. To understand the current state of the Greek media one must first go back in time to the Greek debt crisis. This crisis came out of the aftermath of the global financial crisis in 2007-2008. In 2009 Greece announced that their budget deficit would be about 13% of their GDP, which was worrying as the EU’s limit is 3%. Greece’s credit ratings immediately fell which scared away investors and raised the cost of loans for the country. In 2010 Greece was pushing a plan to lower its debt to 3% of GDP within only two years, trying to reinstill confidence in the government, but only a few months later they warned they might default on their debt instead. In the first few years of this crisis there had been revelations that previous government data of debt levels had been underreported by the Greek government. This all snowballed into the Greek Financial crisis, which continued until the final bailout program that finally ended in August 2018 (Amadeo, 2020). When this crisis was just beginning in 2009 Greece was ranked 35th out of 180 countries on the World Press Freedom Index by Reporters Without Borders. This ranking was high and signaled that Greece had a relatively safe and transparent environment for journalists and there was a good level of public trust in the media. During the economic and financial crisis press freedom sharply eroded in Greece which led to them dropping in the Press Freedom Index rankings all the way to 99th place in 2014. This was not only well below all Western Balkan countries but also states with very repressive media policies such as Kuwait, Liberia, and Gabon. Greece was said to be the EU member state “where journalism and the media faced their most acute crisis (Polymenopoulou, 2015).” In this paper I will interpret the underlying legal framework that refuses to protect journalists, visit incidents of censorship and attacks on the media and how they are being handled, examine the government’s direct involvement in the media, and lastly observe how everything discussed previously has eroded public trust in the Greek media.

The legal framework in Greece is hostile towards journalists and does not protect them or their work. Defaming the Head of the State is considered a crime in Greece. Malicious blasphemy and publicly reviling the Eastern Orthodox Church of Christ or any other religion that is tolerated in Greece is also considered a criminal offence. The Greek Constitution permits seizures of publications that offend the Head of the State or that insult religion (Polymenopoulou, 2015). A major concern to press freedom in Greece that has recently emerged is the introduction of a new law that updates the criminal code. The Greek Parliament adopted this on November 11, 2021 and it makes distributing fake news a criminal offense. This was immediately met with backlash and calls to repeal, including from Human Rights Watch, the international non-profit NGO based in New York City. The change in the criminal code that made spreading fake news a criminal offense was adopted by the Greek government because fake news “has the potential to cause anxiety or fear in society or undermine confidence in the national economy, national defense, or public health (2021 Human Rights Watch).” The harm this law can cause to Greek press freedom is simply limitless as it can impact a wide variety of issues. Eva Kosse, a Greek activist for the Human Rights Watch, has stated that “In Greece, you face imprisonment for expressing your opinion on important issues of public interest if the government says it’s not true.” She goes on to say that “Criminal sanctions can make journalists and virtually everyone else afraid to cover important issues or discuss issues such as the fight against Covid-19, migration or government economic policy.” These are all extremely polarizing topics that the government needs to make difficult decisions on, and the media being scared to state reality out of fear of punishment will not help society navigate these complex issues, it only leads to the government doing what they please and suppressing any opposition. The owner or publisher of a media outlet that has been found guilty of violating this law can face up to five years in prison and fines. This is because a violation of this new law qualifies the crime as a misdemeanor, which Greek law states is punishable by up to five years in prison. Perhaps what is most worrying about this new law is how vague the legislation is regarding what is considered fake news. This new legislation “does not define what fake news is, what standards should be used to determine if something is fake, or that any false information circulated on the Internet causes real harm. Nor does it refer to the need to respect the right to freedom of expression or other human rights obligations (2021 Human Rights Watch).” The vague nature of this law gives the government excessive power to label anything they want as fake news, and therefore easily target journalists. From the journalist’s perspective, the fact that there is no guideline for how to prevent from publishing fake news essentially means that it is impossible for a journalist to take steps to protect themselves and they must do their work knowing that anything that angers the government can be considered fake news and lead to possible fines or jail time.

In the last several years there have been many instances of hostility against journalists, many of which have not been properly handled. There have been many instances of attacks by either security forces or extremists on journalists who are covering newsworthy events. The inappropriate use of violence by police forces against journalists has been attributed both to a lack of competence in dealing with riots and to efforts of censorship and silencing journalists. According to the Hellenic Photojournalists’ Union (EFE), only 1 out of 16 incidents of police brutality against journalists from 2010-2014 resulted in legal consequences. Reporters Without Borders even released a statement in 2016 condemning the lack of consequences against police in these incidents (Polymenopoulou, 2015). The issue has continued into the present day, as there has been a seemingly endless number of incidents of attacks and/or censorship against journalists in Greece within the past few years. Back in March 2018 journalist Paris Kourzidis testified that he was taken by force from a hotel in Athens by bodyguards of Evangelos Marinakis, a Greek media mogul who is on the board Piraeus city council. Paris said that he was told to change an article that referred to the legal process of the businessman in relation to a case where a ship was found carrying over two tons of heroin. In December 2020 journalist Elena Akrita resigned from Ta Nea, which has been Greece’s best-selling newspaper for decades. Elena attempted to publish an article that criticized Kyriakos Mitsotakis, Prime Minister of Greece, and his government in the paper but the article was shot down and not published (Polymenopoulou, 2015). These are a few major examples of what has been happening in Greece more than it ever should. There have been countless other examples of silencing, blackmail, censorship, and even violence against journalists. The unfortunate reality is that out of all the times these incidents occur, only so often will the journalists continue to speak out after being threatened initially. Many make the decision to instead protect themselves, their career, and their family instead of continuing to speak out. This means that there have likely been more cases of censorship through intimidation, blackmail, and violence then the public will ever know about as many of these efforts to silence journalists by those with power unfortunately end successfully.

Ever since the Greek Financial Crisis the Greek government has certainly not been afraid to get involved in the media to influence what narratives are being discussed in Greece. Reporters Without Borders states directly that “Press freedom suffered in Greece in 2020. The conservative government led by Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis granted generous tax rebates on advertising in the media but sought, directly or indirectly, to control the flow of information closely as part of its efforts to deal with both the coronavirus pandemic and the refugee crisis.” There is cause for alarm as the Greek government is using these tax rebates for the media as a tool to deal with the repercussions of their actions. Media companies may find themselves in a position where they are either in danger of going bankrupt or can receive a payment from the government assuming they censor criticism of the government. This will lead to many media outlets that are critical of the government and aren’t afraid to dig for the truth with a massive financial disadvantage in comparison to those outlets that act as puppets of the government. Having the largest remaining media outlets loyal to the government gives the government greater freedom to act in their own interest as it is harder for the public to push back or even know what is happening. Reporters Without Borders goes on to point out that “Investigative media and media critical of the government were either omitted or were given a disproportionately small share of the advertising resulting from a controversial 20-million-euro public information campaign about the virus. Journalists had to get the government’s permission before reporting in hospitals while the health ministry banned medical staff from talking to the media. In February 2021, public TV channels were ordered not to broadcast video circulating on social media that showed the prime minister disregarding lockdown rules (Karaivaz, 2022).” It is clear how the government is using their network of trust within the media to influence what the public is being exposed to. This is a very dangerous precedent to set because the longer that the government acts this way the likelier it will be that investigative journalism starts to disappear and more government influenced journalism appears.

In summary, there are multiple factors that have led to the regression in press freedom that has gotten Greece to where it is today. It all started with the Greek financial crisis, and the consequential erosion in government trust from the governments mishandling of the crisis. One major factor that has led to this regression in press freedom is the evolution of Greece’s legal framework into one that does not protect journalists and is unclear on what their freedoms are. Another factor is the increase of violence and blackmail against journalists, and how many of these incidents either go unpunished or are successful in silencing journalists. The last factor that I examined is how the government uses funding and tax rebates to essentially influence media organizations into pushing whatever narratives the government wants them to. If Greece is going to reach the level of press freedom of its pre-financial crisis days, it will need to address all these factors. There is work to be done if Greece wants to create a safe environment for journalists, and even if they fix many of these things overnight, it will take time to return to a non-hostile media environment and regain the public’s trust. The Greek public is aware of the state of the media, proven by “a survey carried out by German think tank the Friedrich Naumann Foundation last year that found that eight out of 10 Greeks believe the media is controlled by the government or political parties, while two-thirds believe the Greek media broadcasts false news. A recent survey for the Eteron Institute — a Greek think tank — found that just 10.7 percent of people trust the media (Stamouli, 2022).” There is a lot of work to be done in Greece, and the sooner that is done the sooner Greece and its people can move towards a safe and reliable media environment.

Bibliography

Amadeo, K. (2020, May 17). Understand the greek debt crisis in 5 minutes. The Balance. Retrieved April 24, 2022, from https://www.thebalance.com/what-is-the-greece-debt-crisis-3305525

Caucaso, O. B. e. (2022). Censorship and self-censorship in Greece. Media Freedom Resource Centre OBCT. Retrieved April 24, 2022, from https://www.rcmediafreedom.eu/Wiki-for-mediafreedom/Censorship-and-self-censorship-in-Greece

Human rights watch called on Greece to repeal the law announcing “Fake news” a crime. Athens News – News in English from Greece. (2021, November 19). Retrieved April 24, 2022, from https://en.rua.gr/2021/11/19/human-rights-watch-called-on-greece-to-repeal-the-law-announcing-fake-news-a-crime/

Karaivaz, G. (2022). Greece : Dangerous cocktail for press freedom: Reporters without borders. RSF. Retrieved April 24, 2022, from https://rsf.org/en/greece

Losifidis, P. (2015). The last five years have been disastrous for Greek journalism. Open Society Foundations. Retrieved April 24, 2022, from https://www.opensocietyfoundations.org/publications/media-policy-and-independent-journalism-greece

Polymenopoulou, E. (2015, September). Greece: Press Freedom and defamation laws in a time of crisis. Media Freedom Resource Centre OBCT. Retrieved April 24, 2022, from https://www.rcmediafreedom.eu/Publications/Reports/Greece-Press-Freedom-and-Defamation-Laws-in-a-Time-of-Crisis

Stamouli, N. (2022, March 29). Greek media under threat, says report. POLITICO. Retrieved April 24, 2022, from https://www.politico.eu/article/greek-media-under-threat-says-report/