Disapproval and strong reactions have been caused by information that the Sept 22 front page of the newspaper Proto Thema will depict a photo of the 34-year old Pavlos Fyssas shortly before he left his last breath after he was stabbed by Golden Dawn member Giorgos Roupakias.
The information became known by the family of the victim themselves, who sent a statement to the Journalists’ Union of the Athens Daily Newspapers (ESIEA) and communicated it to the Prosecutor’s Office of Piraeus as well as to the newspaper involved.
In the statement, Pavlos Fyssas’s family, noting that they have secure information in advance for the relevant publication, underlines that the publication of these photos constitutes “a gross and vulgar insult of the memory of the deceased,” and demands the heavy mourning for the loss of their beloved be respected and allowed to be expressed in silence and dignity. For this reason, the family is calling for all the necessary acts required by journalistic duty to defend the memory of the deceased and the security and peace of his relatives.
ESIEA issued an announcement denouncing the publication of the Proto Thema front page noting that this does not serve the need for information, but “grossly insults the professional ethics and human values,” while reminding that “the respect of the individual’s personality, discretion and sensitivity, as well as the respect of both the deceased and the bereaved relatives and friends is a journalist’s primary obligation.”
The Journalists’ Union of the Athens Daily Newspapers also underlines that journalism has the role to reveal and uncover the “dark circles” and not to succumb to creating easy impressions while it calls all Greeks journalists, no matter the difficult position they may be in due to the economic recession, to act with calm, to reveal the real face of Golden Dawn and not to be scared of any potential threats, but to justify their role.
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