“Greece is recording remarkable progress in press freedom,” government spokesman Pavlos Marinakis stresses as today is World Press Freedom Day.

Noting that “the strengthening of institutions, the safeguarding of pluralism and the continuous improvement of the operating framework of the Media are a constant priority of the Government”, Government Spokesman, Pavlos Marinakis refers in a lengthy post to the measures taken by the Government in this direction.

Full post by the government spokesman

May 3 – World Press Freedom Day

World Press Freedom Day is an important reminder of the value of independent journalism and transparency in any modern democracy. In Greece, in recent years, substantial progress has been made in the media sector, recognised by the OECD, Transparency International, the Economist and reflected in the European Commission’s official report on media freedom and the rule of law. According to the Commission Report, our country has fewer recommendations than 15 EU Member States and has reduced the number of recommendations to only 4. In fact, in last year’s report, Greece’s progress in the field of press freedom is recorded as remarkable.

The strengthening of institutions, the safeguarding of pluralism and the continuous improvement of the media framework are a constant priority of the Government.

Sustaining and deepening this progress requires consistency, accountability and sustained commitment.

Over the past years we have been working systematically, promoting a comprehensive grid of interventions that substantially changes the media landscape in Greece based on 4 central pillars:

– the protection of journalists

– the strengthening of transparency and accountability

– meritocracy

– respect for taxpayers’ money.

What has happened in Greece in recent years:

✅ We have further strengthened the Print and Electronic Press Registers, a landmark reform that ensures that not a single euro of state advertising will go to media that do not respect the requirements of the law and, above all, their employees.

✅ We safeguard and protect the jobs of journalists and media workers.

✅ We abolished the offence of simple defamation.

✅ We have strengthened the penalties for attacks on media workers.

✅ We introduced a specific offence for threats against sports journalists.

✅ We established the obligation of signed journalism in publications and sites certified in the Registers.

✅ We incorporated the European Media Freedom Regulation (EMFA) – Greece is among the first EU member states to fully adopt the EU Regulation.

✅ We upgraded ERT with modern corporate governance standards – strengthening public character, transparency, accountability.

✅ The new administrations at ERT and APPE-MPE were appointed through a merit-based APSEP process – with objective criteria.

✅ We are institutionally and substantially strengthening the National Broadcasting Council (NCR) – with a significant increase in its staff, so that the independent authority can fulfil its responsibilities and role.

✅ We put to public consultation the bill on the licensing of regional TV stations – meritocracy, equality, transparency, support for regional media.

✅ We formulated a new framework for state advertising with:

– mandatory publication of expenditures by both programme implementers and SMEs before and after each programme,

– mandatory 30% of each campaign’s funds going to regional SMEs, a long-standing request becoming a reality.

This is how we end opacity, strengthen accountability and respect taxpayers’ money.

✅ With the new bill of the Ministry of Justice, provisions for the harmonization of Greece with the European legislation against SLAPPs are to be immediately incorporated, with broad participation of journalists themselves and the Task Force in its co-drafting.

These provisions will protect the self-evident right of freedom of expression from abusive lawsuits.

✅ We institutionally support and fund the WIPO’s WTO SLAPPs – so that journalists are in practice protected from abusive lawsuits.

✅ We envisage the establishment of a self-regulating Media Council with public funding. Thus, media self-regulation is institutionally strengthened.

✅ We established the National Action Plan for the Safety of Journalists – based on European guidelines and the country’s commitments to the OSCE.

✅ We signed a Collective Labour Agreement for journalists employed in the wider public sector with wide acceptance by the vast majority of editorial associations.

✅ We established the National Strategy for Media Literacy (Media Literacy) with a three-year implementation cycle – because freedom of the press starts with an informed and critically thinking citizen.

✅ We have developed partnerships with Greek Universities and in collaboration with the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki and the Ministry of Education, Religion and Sports, we have created the “Cultivating Critical Readers” program, which is being piloted in 35 schools in Greece, so that students learn to recognize and protect themselves from fake news, while cultivating literacy. Our goal is to implement the programme in all schools in Greece.

✅ With the 1st Athens Alitheia Forum we opened for the first time at an institutional level the dialogue on countering misinformation, toxic speech, starting a broad discussion on the quality of public debate and putting on the table for the first time the need for the identification of internet users in order to protect everyone in case of committing criminal offences.

Freedom of the press is the foundation of democracy. With strong rules, transparency everywhere and effective protection for media professionals, we are strengthening democracy and the trust of citizens. Because a free, responsible and quality press is a prerequisite for progress, accountability and social cohesion – and in this direction we will continue, without discounts, producing results that are recognised, against what undocumented reports and professional sycophants of our country claim.

</html