Greece has literally slipped down to the 99th position in terms of press freedom, according to a study by Reporters Without Borders. Greece fell 15 places since the previous assessment and is now in a lower position than any other country in the EU except Bulgaria which is one place below Greece.

Our country is lower than countries such as Kyrgyzstan, Zambia, Nicaragua and Sierra Leona, while it is in a higher position than Russia, Turkey, China and India.

First on the list of press freedom are EU countries such as Finland, the Netherlands and Luxembourg, while the U.S. rank at 46th. Turkey is the country with the most arrested journalists in the world, according to the report.

How results are formed

The methodology of this survey was based on a number of parameters that were included in a questionnaire which journalists, lawyers, teachers and organizations for press freedom in 180 countries, were called to answer.

The questions focused on the number of journalists who have been injured, arrested or killed by government departments, the degree of censorship imposed by government authorities and to the extent that journalists themselves or the media in which they work censors themselves in order to not annoy the state authorities.

The ranking took into account the working environment for journalists and censorship imposed by publishers, the legal framework for each country and the freedom of each journalist writing without being threatened with legal crippling sanctions, the quality of journalist and whether these reports reflect reality or they are the product of the journalist’s imagination.

The report is a slap in the face for Greece

As characteristically mentioned on the matter of Greece, by the report of Reporters without Borders, since the crisis, media in Greece have suffered enormously with an ever-increasing number of journalists joining the unemployment lines. “The few owners and operators who control media in Greece have turned to more profitable sectors… The crisis in the Greek media is the result of a long “client” relationship with state authorities”. The report speaks of the Golden Dawn fascist formation which has directly threatened journalists, while there have been reports of direct attacks against workers in the field of journalism.

“The oldest democracy in the world has dropped 50 places lower as far as Press freedom goes within just 5 years”, states the report.