Greek journalist beaten on air while reporting from Athens fire
On June 19, 2024, Frixos Drakontidis was reporting live from the scene of a fire in Varis-Koropiou, a southern suburb of the capital Athens, when an unidentified man approached him and asked him to leave the premises of a company hit by the blaze. When Drakontidis refused, saying that he was a journalist with Protothema…
CPJ, partners call on European Commission to act on press freedom in Greece
The Committee to Protect Journalists on Tuesday joined 16 partner organizations in a letter to Ursula von der Leyen, president of the European Commission, to ask her to hold the Greek authorities to account for press freedom concerns. CPJ and other organizations recently reported that Greece is the only EU country to currently have two…
CPJ presents joint report on declining press freedom in Greece
The Committee to Protect Journalists joined seven other international press freedom organizations on Tuesday in a joint report after a mission to Athens in September 2023. The report concluded that Greece is the only EU country to currently have two open cases of impunity for the murder of journalists, and almost no other country in…
CPJ, others call for lawsuits against Greek journalists and outlets to be dropped
The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) joined eight other international press freedom organizations in support of journalists and media outlets in Greece ahead of a series of abusive lawsuits filed by Grigoris Dimitriadis, former general secretary and the nephew of Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis. Dimitriadis filed two lawsuits against newspaper EFSYN and online investigative portal…
Faces of impunity across the world
CPJ’s 2023 Global Impunity Index lists the top 12 countries where the murderers of journalists go free. But impunity knows no borders. The mosaic below shows the faces of slain journalists around the world. Beneath each journalist’s photo is the location of their death. Click the images for more details about these unsolved cases. (Photo grid by Geoff McGhee)
Press freedom groups find Greek authorities failed to investigate journalist murders
Impunity in the cases of Sokratis Giolias and Giorgios Karaivaz underscores decline in media freedom in Greece Athens, September 29, 2023—A pattern of inaction and inadequate investigation from Greek authorities in the 2010 murder of Greek journalist Sokratis Giolias was revealed in an investigation published today by press freedom groups Free Press Unlimited, the Committee…
CPJ joins mission, press conference calling for decisive action to protect journalists in Greece
The Committee to Protect Journalists joined seven other international press freedom organizations on Wednesday to call on Greek authorities to make a clear demonstration of political commitment to improve press freedom in the country and take specific measures in compliance with European standards to renew the trust of the media community. The groups’ press conference…
Four Greek investigative journalists say intelligence authorities followed them, tracked their phones
Berlin, November 4, 2022—Greek authorities must conduct a quick, transparent, and independent investigation into claims that investigative journalist Tasos Telloglou was stalked and that intelligence officials used cell phone data to surveil him and reporters Thodoris Chondrogiannos, Thanasis Koukakis, and Eliza Triantafillou, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Friday. In an October 24 article and…
In Greece, reporters’ killings unsolved, critical journalists complain of growing threats
In Greece, two unsolved journalist killings over the last 12 years as well as threats of violence and physical attacks against reporters have contributed to a climate of fear and self-censorship. Adding to the sense of insecurity is the wiretapping of two reporters by Greek intelligence services; a phone belonging to one of the two reporters was also infected by spyware. On a fact-finding mission…
Greek prosecutors summon journalist Petros Kousoulos in leak probe
Berlin, September 8, 2022—Greek prosecutors should immediately cease harassing journalist Petros Kousoulos, and ensure that leak investigations do not force journalists to disclose their anonymous sources, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Thursday. On August 30, prosecutors with the Greek Supreme Court issued an arrest warrant for Petros Kousoulos, a reporter and publisher of the…