Frequent violence against media in Greece

The attacks on Greek media in the past three years and today are worrying. The Greek government needs to speed up its implementation of crucial documents that are guarding journalists’ safety. Most attacks remain unpunished.

In the past three years, there were 11 attacks against Greek journalists and media accused of spreading government propaganda. The latest attack was on a building in Athens that houses Real FM news radio and the weekly RealNews on 13 July. An anarchist group calling themselves ‘Thousands of Night Suns’ confirmed the involvement on 20 July, dedicating this attack to two anarchist activists, and blaming Real for supporting political propaganda.

It is crucial that the Greek government speeds up the implementation of the interministerial memo on journalists’ safety and the European Commission’s September 2021 recommendations. Despite what Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis says about the need for conviction of perpetrators, most attacks on press freedom remain unpunished.

Journalists in Greece are not exposed only to violent attacks of this kind as a target of organised crime. That is why Greece is placed the lowest in RSF’s 2022 World Press Freedom Index out of all EU countries, being 108th out of 180.