Rows over press freedom overshadow Greece’s recent achievements

Prison for “fake news”, and a reporter gunned down

A Greek man looks at newspaper headlines at a kiosk in Athens on May 5, 2017. / AFP PHOTO / Eleftherios Elis (Photo credit should read ELEFTHERIOS ELIS/AFP via Getty Images)

 | ATHENS

Greece’s centre-right government has done a fine job of polishing its image with tourists and investors since Kyriakos Mitsotakis took over as prime minister in 2019. The country’s ancient heritage, not least the invention of democracy, plays a big role in the messaging. But just as in the fifth century bc, freedom of speech matters too.

Greece tumbled 38 places this year in the World Press Freedom Index published by Reporters Without Borders (rwb), an ngo based in Paris. Ranking 108th (out of 180), the Greeks for the first time lagged behind all other eu countries as well as their Balkan neighbours.