A former journalist was found dead in mysterious circumstances amid mounting criticism regarding Press Freedom.
Athens Feb 25, former journalist Apostolos Fournatzopoulos, who worked for Kontra News, was found dead resting on top of a pole carrying high voltage lines on February 19th 2024. Documento, a Greek news site, confirmed his identity now, several days later. Though he departed from journalism for a number of years, the circumstances surrounding Fournatzopoulos’ death raise a number of questions. While active, Fournatzopoulos made critical remarks about the Greek police, while police reports initially also seemed to dismiss the case as “simply a Roma attempting to steal electricity.”
At this moment, little additional information is available, and it is therefore extremely difficult to guess the causes of Apostolos’ death.
Journalism:
Journalism in Greece is currently considered in dire straits as a number of government scandals such as “Predatorgate” and “Petsas List,” have undermined Greece’s institutions. A Reporters Without Borders report also outlines other issues, such as the highly fragmented and polarised mediascape. Despite this, Greek PM Kyriakos Mitsotakis has defended his government’s practices, claiming that the administration finds itself in an opposition slander campaign.
Opinion:
Media bias is not novel within journalism; a party newspaper is not news itself. Moreso, in Greece, it is very common to find, excuse the inelegant expression, trash disguised as journalism. One will commonly find news sections that uncritically advertise a corporation’s new project, people yelling at each other, making any comprehensible debate impossible and replacing it with a show of force. Bias, corruption, low-quality reporting, and an overflow of opinion (versus facts reporting) plague the Greek mediascape, making the public rely on alternative reports and social media. This, however, can go hand-in-hand with even greater misinformation and populism. Despite that, and in remembrance of the dead Fournatzopoulos (regardless of the actual circumstances of his death), we should note that it is precisely in this environment that brave journalists shine and stand out. With that in mind, it becomes apparent that more must be done to improve journalistic practices, institutions and to centralize the best of it for the benefit of the public.
Andrej Markov 