1785 Greece Scores Last on Freedom of the Press (World Press Freedom Day) May 2, 2001 1785 GHM PRESS RELEASE TOPIC: WORLD PRESS FREEDOM DAY (3 MAY). GREECE SCORES LAST ON FREEDOM OF THE PRESS. Greek Helsinki Monitor, on the occasion of tomorrow's World Press Freedom Day, points out that, among the countries with a long democratic tradition, Greece is regrettably the one with the least respect for the freedom of the press, as shown by the recent report of the international organization Freedom House. On a scale of 0 [total freedom] - 100 [no freedom at all], Greece scores 30 for the year 2000, which is the worst score a free country can get. The countries with partial freedom begin at 31, the countries with no freedom from 61. All new democracies in Central Europe and the Baltics score better than Greece does. In the OSCE area, only most (but not all) Balkan and former Soviet countries are worse off [Freedom House, "The Annual Survey of Press Freedom 2000" http://www.freedomhouse.org.pfs2001/pfs2001.pfdf]. In comparison to 1999, three countries improved so much that they surpassed Greece: Bulgaria, Hungary and Slovakia. Our organization, as well as all international press freedom organizations, have repeatedly asked for changes in the legislation so that libel be decriminalized and articles that criminalize the (even in extreme forms) expression of opinion (blasphemy, disturbance of international relations, etc.) or investigative reporting (publication of classified documents, etc.) be abolished.
