A press freedom report criticising Greece for suppressing coverage of migrant pushbacks was censored by the European Parliament, it has been revealed.
Reporters Without Borders issued a report saying Greek police “regularly resort to violence” to stop journalists covering the refugee crisis, as well as demonstrations against Covid measures.
Greece tumbled from 70th place to 108th in its latest press freedom league table as a result, lower than any other EU country and lower even than Albania.
But despite regularly voicing support for both media freedom and Reporters Without Borders, the European Parliament deleted the report from its website on the grounds that it was “not in line with the editorial guidelines”.
Jaume Duch Guillot, a spokesman for the European Parliament, said it was because the report made no mention of “the parliament’s activities and agenda”.
But the deletion of the report followed a virulent reaction from the Greek government’s supporters. A lawmaker from the ruling New Democracy party labelled Reporters Without Border a “leftist NGO” and “losers from abroad”.
There has been some suggestion that the decision to delete the report was made by Roberta Metsola, president of the European Parliament.
Both Ms Metsola and New Democracy belong to the centre-right European People’s Party (EPP), the parliament’s largest political group.
“Metsola’s effort to protect the last strong EPP government in Europe can be partly understood,” said Sarantis Michalopouloss, a columnist with Brussels-based website Euractiv. “What cannot be understood and tolerated is the lies of an EU institution which gets paid by EU taxpayers’ money, who are suffering from soaring prices across the bloc.”
Ms Metsola’s office did not respond to requests for comment.
Greece criminal code amendments
Amendments to Greece’s criminal code “passed under the pretext of fighting the Covid-19 pandemic” have harmed press freedom, the report stated.
The spreading of “false information” is now punishable by five years imprisonment, which Reporters Without Borders said “represents a serious threat to journalists’ right to publish information in the public interest, and increases the risk of self-censorship”.
The police “regularly resort to violence and arbitrary bans to hamper journalistic coverage of demonstrations and the refugee crisis on the islands”, the report reads.
One Dutch journalist had to leave the country for her own security “after she was attacked in the street following a smear campaign by the pro-government media over her heated exchange with the prime minister about migrant pushbacks”.
The Greek government was also criticised for dragging its feet after promising a probe into the murder of Giorgos Karaivaz, a veteran crime reporter who was gunned down outside his Athens home in broad daylight.
‘Worrisome’ media freedoms in the UK
The UK rose nine places in the report’s ranking, to 24, although media freedoms were said to be “worrisome”.
Report authors pointed to an “alarming proposal for reforms to official secrets laws that could see journalists jailed for espionage”.
Journalists in the UK “faced extensive freedom of information restrictions, with reports surfacing of a secretive government clearing house for freedom of information requests”.
The report also mentioned alleged “governmental interference” surrounding “the failed appointment of Paul Dacre as chair of Ofcom, the UK’s communications regulator”.
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