Editor’s Take

In what appears to be another invective against the free press, a Greek newspaper published a report this weekend linking EURACTIV with “foreign intelligence” circles and certain political parties in Greece. We state clearly, that as always, the core of our reporting is “independent and free from bias”, and we express our concern and deepest dismay at the unfounded, defamatory, and highly speculative report in Athens that fell well short of good journalistic standards.

We have absolute trust in our journalists and will by no means allow any kind of intimidation aimed at preventing us from doing our job. We will continue to report on political events in Greece objectively and constructively, believing that this is the only way to strengthen democracy and the media in the country.

If the author had contacted EURACTIV before the publication, we would have let them know that the structure of our media network is based on having entities in several European countries with full editorial independence.

Regarding Yiannis Roubatis, a former MEP and journalist mentioned in this report, while he had indeed helped EURACTIV Greece set up its editorial team more than one decade ago, he has never been involved in the editorial operations of EURACTIV.com.

Over the last decade, he contributed several Op-Eds as thousands of politicians, journalists, analysts, businesses, NGOs, and other stakeholders across Europe have been doing for 20 years.

Last but not least, Yiannis left EURACTIV Greece more than ten years ago and no longer has any formal or informal ties with it. Any and all of this could have been explained if EURACTIV had been approached for comment, which is itself a standard practice when producing trustworthy journalism.

The never-ending fight for democracy, the rule of law and the free press should keep us all united, from political parties to journalists, and we shall always support reporters in doing their job professionally and objectively.

Zoran Radosavljevic | EURACTIV.com Editor-in-chief