Journalist faces Disciplinary Board of the Hellenic Journalists' Union for opinion article

The news that iefimerida journalist Sofia Giannaka was summoned to the Disciplinary Board of the Hellenic Journalists' Union for an opinion article has caused a wave of reactions in the political and journalistic world.

Columnists, politicians, journalists, cartoonists and a host of well-known users on social media rushed to condemn the journalist's summons to the Disciplinary Board of the Hellenic Journalists' Union and to defend freedom of expression.

It is recalled that Sofia Giannaka was summoned via e-mail by the first-instance disciplinary board of the Hellenic Journalists' Union to appear for an apology on the grounds that on February 13, 2025, she wrote an article about Maria Karystianou.

In its reasoning, ESIEA, as Sofia Giannaka herself explains in her new article entitled “In the Disciplinary Court because I ‘‘touched’’ Karystianou”, is essentially calling her out for an “offense”:

“As she states, in my article about Ms. Karystianou I do not take into account ‘‘the general social demand for justice, as well as the struggle of a mother for vindication and punishment of the guilty’’”, to add: “The journalist’s mission is not to identify with the climate of the ‘‘general social demand’’. But to analyze it and accordingly share or disagree with it. His job is to interpret the loudspeakers of each square and not a priori justify them”.

Sofia Giannaka also emphasizes: "I expressed my opinion without any slurs, political condemnations and trials of intentions. Unlike some followers of the other view, who consciously reproduce false ''revelations'' and judge on the front pages. Without any disturbance from ESIEA."