Greece Ranks Low In Press Freedom

Greece has been placed among the countries that are only Partly Free in Freedom of the Press 2013 in a report from the non-profit organization Freedom House, the headquarters of which are in Dupont Circle, Washington, D.C.

Greece was evaluated with the total score of 41 compared to 30 in 2012. Greece ranks 85th among 197 countries examined.

“Greece declined from Free to Partly Free due to an increasingly hostile legal, political and economic environment for the press; a rise in intimidation of and attacks against journalists; closures of, or cutbacks at, numerous print and broadcast outlets as a result of the economic crisis; and a consequent reduction in media diversity and in comprehensive and accurate reporting about the country’s political and economic situation,” the report said.

Freedom House report referred to the case of Greek journalist Kostas Vaxevanis: “In 2012, the enforcement of these laws increased, and there were several instances in which the government threatened journalists with legal action.

“In the most prominent case, journalist Kostas Vaxevanis was arrested in October and charged with violation of privacy for publishing, in his investigative magazine Hot Doc, the so-called Lagarde List of prominent Greek citizens who had transferred funds to Swiss bank accounts, allegedly to avoid paying taxes in Greece.”

The report describes that many journalists, as Anthee Carassava, Manos Lolos and Xenia Kounalaki among others, have been attacked by the police or by individuals affiliated with the neo-Nazi party Golden Dawn.

The report continues: “The contracting economy, and the resulting decline in circulation and advertising, continued to adversely affect the media sector in 2012, weakening its ability to cover the crisis and the corresponding political turmoil. Numerous media outlets have either closed, cut back staff and salaries, scaled down or eliminated their news departments, or failed to pay wages.”

In an international level, the report on Freedom of the Press pointed out that the number of people that have access to free media has been reduced to the lowest levels within more than a decade, and that free press in Europe has been limited due to the financial crisis.

In the Partly Free category of Freedom House, apart from Greece, Italy is included 69th, while Cyprus ranks 45th.

Freedom House, founded in 1941, is an independent watchdog organization dedicated to the expansion of freedom around the world. It evaluates press freedom in various countries all over the world on an annual basis, rating each country for political rights and civil liberties.

The organization uses a checklist of questions in both categories. For political rights, the questions are related to the electoral process, political pluralism and participation, functioning of the government, and discretionary political rights. Questions on civil liberties are about freedom of expression and belief, associational and organizational rights, rule of law, and personal autonomy and individual rights.