On World Press Freedom Day, Greece has once again been delivered a brutal reminder of how desperately it needs to address the serious lack of safety for its journalists.

The annual World Press Freedom Index conducted by Reporters Without Borders has revealed Greece to be the lowest ranked country in regards to media freedom in the entire European Union.

On a global level, Greece ranks 107th, two places behind Qatar. In comparison to last year’s report, Greece has gone up one place from 108, but is still being outperformed by the likes of Haiti, Ukraine and Thailand. While it has moved up a place, it is nothing to celebrate. In fact, its overall score has decreased from 55.5 to 55.2.

Norway, Ireland, Denmark, Sweden and Finland occupy the top five, while Bulgaria, Malta and Greece have the worst scores in the EU.

Greece’s high-profile abuse of journalists

In April last year, it was revealed that spying software ‘Predator’ was used for at least ten weeks to spy on journalist Thanasis Koukakis.

Also, in November 2021, another Greek journalist, Stavros Malichudis, was found to have been spied on from a leaked report.

And the murder of veteran crime reporter Giorgos Karaivaz in 2021 has yet to be solved, which continues to disgrace the government’s treatment of journalists.

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