Outrage forced government spokesman to apologize for attacking Politico correspondent

Greek government spokesman Yiannis Ikonomou offered a half-hearted apology for the attacks and discrediting of POLITICO correspondent in Greece, Nectaria Stamouli, who is also the president of the Foreign Press Association in the country.

Iconomou could not help correcting his previous statements after the protests of local and foreign press associations, as well as Greeks and foreigners in in social networks.

Stamouli was targeted by a government spokesman who claimed she was “linked” to the main opposition party SYRIZA because she had detailed the surveillance and wiretapping scandal.

In the eyes of the right-wing ruling New Democracy, which is literally obsessed with hatred of the left SYRIZA, anyone who criticizes the government is almost an “enemy of the people.” In this sense, the government also seems to believe that such people should hide under the bed and be silent.

Half apology

On the briefing for journalists on Thursday, Ikonomou even claimed that POLITICO had “re-engineered” critical parts of the report. Iconomu acknowledged that his reference to Stamouli a day earlier was “an exaggeration and could have been omitted”.

A spokesman said on Wednesday that a report on the Politico Europe website about the Greek wiretapping scandal was “totally inaccurate” and written by “a journalist known for her ties to [основной оппозицией] SYRIZA”.

POLITICO’s Playbook published the Stamouli report, according to which Greece refused to respond to the European Commission’s inquiry about the country’s wiretapping scandal, claiming it was simply.

Protest The country’s Representative Association of Foreign Press Correspondents expressed “surprise and disappointment” at the “targeting and professional discrediting of a journalist” by government spokesman Yannis Oikonomu. The Foreign Press Association responded to Oikonomou’s claim that the Politico Europe website report on the Greek wiretapping scandal was “totally inaccurate” and written by “a journalist known for her ties to [основной оппозицией] SYRIZA”. An article written by Politico Brussels Playbook contributor Susanna Lynch mentions that Nektaria Stamouli contributed to a report reviewing a written response from the Greek Permanent Representative to the EU to the Directorate General of the Commission for Justice and Consumers regarding Predator spyware. In a statement released shortly after Oikonomu’s allegations, FPA stated that it considered “inappropriate for a minister in an EU country, and in particular for someone in charge of the media and the press, to publicly harass and professionally discredit a journalist.”

Greece: Foreign Press Association response to statement by government spokesman against
assoc president @nstamouli #greece https://t.co/gj1UMkcGJW pic.twitter.com/sj4vvhQvah

— Derek Gatopoulos (@dgatopoulos) August 24, 2022

European and international media freedom organizations have raised their voices and called Oikonomu’s statements “unacceptable”.

🇬🇷#greece: IPI deeply regrets the insulting & discrediting comments made by @joikonomou against @POLITICOEurope journalist @nstamouli.

Our global network urges the gov spokesperson to apologise for his unacceptable insinuations.@MediaFreedomEU alert👇https://t.co/q44Mtboegt pic.twitter.com/feaVOjhbXt

— IPI – The Global Network for Independent Media (@globalfreemedia) August 25, 2022

POLITICO fully supports Stamouli

POLITICO also said in a statement that “supports the accuracy and integrity of Nectarija Stamouli’s journalism.”

“As to the merits of the complaint, we have read the letter from the Permanent Representative of Greece to the EU, Ioannis Vrailas, and are satisfied that Stamouli’s quotes from it in the Wednesday edition of the Brussels Playbook are completely accurate,” Politico said.

BTW Politico did not “reverse engineer” anything in their report.

Audition, Clapp and The New York Times

This is the second time that journalists from the foreign press report on problems that the Greek government would like to present but never happened, at least not to their knowledge, would rather be buried and of course left within the narrow confines of a small country. where they could tell their own story and spread it through certain media, which they supported by donating 20 million euros during the pandemic.

New York Times writer Alexander Klapp was targeted and discredited by the government-affiliated media and the army of right-wing trolls when he wrote an opinion piece headlined ” The rot in the heart of Greece is now evident to all “.

It was again a government official who hinted that Clapp was anti-Greek or something…

Not just the trolls.

Greek government spokesman on Alexander Clapp: “this is the same journalist … who in March 2020 denounced Greece internationally for defending its borders”https://t.co/D9vatyK2mq https://t.co/7iBie72hMB

— Damian Mac Con Uladh (@damomac) August 22, 2022

The NYT responded to the attacks with a follow-up article on first page the next day.

PS If you’re wondering why Greece sank to 108th for freedom of the media… know attacks on foreign journalists are a common practice in autocratic regimes and third world countries.

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