Stun Grenades and SLAPPs: Greek Reporters under Fire

Hristofakis was one of four photojournalists who suffered injuries from police violence during days of protests and nationwide strikes following the train crash that killed 57 people and raised uncomfortable questions for the authorities about how they manage the country's rail system.

One of them, 32-year-old freelance photojournalist Konstantinos Zilos, was struck by a stun grenade on March 5. "The grenade burned through my motorcycle jacket and caused me second-degree burns to my stomach," he said.

At No 107, Greece is currently the lowest ranking European Union state on the annual press freedom index published by Reporters Without Borders.

But the threat of physical injury is not the only obstacle to Greek media workers doing their jobs; they also face intimidation from government officials and business moguls, surveillance by intelligence agencies, and the risk of lawsuits designed solely to deter negative coverage. And those are only the most obvious.

"There are a series of invisible and non-transparent but treacherous criteria that affect the conduct of journalism in Greece", said investigative reporter Kostas Koukoumakas, citing government funding for aligned media during the COVID-19 pandemic, the tendency of "establishment media" to steer clear of sensitive topics until the implicated party has gone on record, and the "systematic refusal" of government officials to answer journalists' questions.

"These are all small components of a reality that reports cannot register but which remains important because it affects the work of hundreds of journalists," Koukoumakas told BIRN.

SLAPPing away investigators 

Police officers cordon the area outside the home of Greek journalist Giorgos Karaivaz after he...