GREEK
HELSINKI MONITOR
(Greek National
Committee of the International Helsinki Federation)
& MINORITY RIGHTS GROUP
- GREECE
(Greek Affiliate of Minority Rights Group International)
P.O. Box 51393, GR-14510
Kifisia, Greece Tel. 30-1-620.01.20; Fax: 30-1-807.57.67; E-mail: office@greekhelsinki.gr
4/4/1999
TOPIC: LETTER OF VETERAN JOURNALIST RICHARDOS
SOMERITIS TO THE ATHENS JOURNALISTS' UNION (ESIEA)
The cooperating non-governmental organizations Greek Helsinki Monitor & Minority
Rights-Greece distribute today a letter of veteran journalist, columnist in the daily «To
Vima,» and member of the National Council for Radio and Television Richardos S. Someritis
to the Athens Journalists’ Union (ESIEA).
Richardos Someritis
Athens, 31.03.1999
Mr Nikos Kiaos President of Athens Journalists’
Union (ESIEA)
Dear President and Friend,
This letter, which I ask you to forward to the Board,
so that the appropriate measures may be taken, concerns the problems of the press, as well
as those of the journalists, as they were detected during the recent - and still
continuing - dramatic events.
1. A situation of complete control over national and
international media has been imposed on the whole of new Yugoslavia, many foreign
journalists have been expelled, whereas those remaining have very few possibilities of
carrying out investigations or any personal work. The majority of Greek correspondents,
who thus brought to our knowledge the fact that all broadcasts are controlled, described
this situation. Isn’t ESIEA concerned about it?
2. Many Greek journalists, mainly on radio and
television, behave like soldiers in the front: they have chosen their camp, their uniform,
their flag. If they are columnists, it is their right to do so. Nevertheless, how come
that even the Patriarch is censored by many media? Isn’t ESIEA concerned about this
problem? Shouldn’t it remind journalists that their role is to inform? I wonder if our
statutes and our code of ethics have been replaced by declarations of various committees
of «friendship» and propaganda.
3. All journalists with a point of view different
from the dominant one or who dared offer the information that others refused are being
threatened or humiliated (e.g. a newspaper agreed to publish an interview in which I am
called a ‘Franco-Levantine’). Others have lost the right of expression (our colleague
Manolis Vasilakis has been fired by the newspaper «Exousia»; his dismissal was demanded
by [the nationalist group] «Network 21,» which considered it as a personal
‘victory’). Many are being threatened even by foreign embassies, while others go
through extreme pressure aiming at their alignment with the prevailing line. Even [the
terrorist organization] ‘17 November’, following the steps of some professional
slanderers, participates in this campaign that seeks to silence us. Isn’t ESIEA
concerned about this problem?
I hope that ESIEA does not turn into an accomplice in
the total prevalence of one-dimensional thought and one-sided information. I am expecting
ESIEA’s reactions: it is during hard times that both people and institutions are judged.
If it proves necessary, which I hope it wouldn’t, I shall be obliged to notify all
international professional associations and human rights organizations.
With friendly greetings and many hopes,
[Signature]
Richardos S. Someritis.
Translated from Greek by Greek Helsinki Monitor.
Words in [] were added by GHM.
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