REPORTS
Thessaloniki International Fair (TIF) 2025: Exclusion of Media and Journalists from the Prime Minister’s Press Conference
In September 2025, numerous statements and interventions were issued by journalists’ unions and media outlets regarding the exclusion of reporters and media from submitting questions during Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis’ press conference at the Thessaloniki International Fair (TIF). Out of the 44 questions permitted, the overwhelming majority were directed to pro‑government outlets by government spokesperson Pavlos Marinakis.
On September 9, 2025, the Journalists’ Union of Macedonia–Thrace (ESIEM‑TH) condemned the government’s practice of systematically denying local media the opportunity to ask questions at the annual press conference. The Union stressed that the vast majority of outlets serving Thessaloniki and Northern Greece, including ERT3, the public broadcaster based in the city hosting the Fair, were conspicuously excluded. It warned that repeated discrimination against regional media undermines citizens’ right to equal access to information, which constitutes a public good.
A similar reaction came from the Journalists’ Union of Thessaly, Central Greece, and Evia (ESIETHSte‑E), which expressed strong protest at what it described as an unacceptable exclusion of an entire Greek region. The Union emphasized that this area has endured unprecedented natural disasters in recent years (such as “Ianos,” “Daniel,” and “Ilias”) and the tragic Tempi railway accident, with its consequences still felt today. It argued that silencing the region’s journalists was not merely a communication error but an affront to citizens struggling to recover. The Union denounced the censorship of regional media and professional journalists across the country.
Similar protests came from national outlets such as Documento and Rizospastis. Documento emphasized that this was the sixth consecutive year it had been excluded from questioning the prime minister, despite its wide social reach, while smaller pro‑government outlets were given access. The paper stressed that journalism’s role is to pose questions, ensure accountability, and inform citizens, noting that in any modern democracy journalism is a structural element. It added that the prime minister has a constitutional obligation to respond to all journalistic questions, regardless of how inconvenient they may be.
For the third consecutive year, the prime minister’s communications team did not allow Rizospastis to submit a question during Kyriakos Mitsotakis’ press conference at the Thessaloniki International Fair (TIF). This occurred despite the fact that the newspaper’s journalist had publicly denounced the government’s stance as unacceptable prior to the event, stressing that systematic exclusion could not be tolerated for a third year in a row.
According to reporting by 902.gr, while dozens of media outlets — many of them friendly or less critical toward the government, including several from the same media group — were given the opportunity to ask questions, Rizospastis was excluded, despite being one of the country’s largest‑circulation newspapers and often leading in weekend sales.
The article argued that the government sought to prevent discussion of the mass mobilization in Thessaloniki against recent labor and economic policies, including the extension of working hours, new austerity measures, and tax burdens. It described the repeated exclusion of Rizospastis and other systematically ignored outlets from the TIF press conference as a continuing affront that would not go unanswered. The report also noted that the government spokesperson attempted to silence the protest of the newspaper’s journalist by abruptly cutting off her microphone at the end of the press conference.
The exclusion was likewise condemned by Journalistic Cooperation, a union faction of journalists affiliated with the Communist Party of Greece (KKE).
Neither Sto Kokkino radio nor the newspapers Avgi and Dimokratia were allowed to submit questions during Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis’ press conference at the Thessaloniki International Fair (TIF).
The exclusion of journalists and media outlets was documented as “denial of access to information” and “violation of media freedom” by the Mapping Media Freedom monitoring mechanism, operated by the European Centre for Press and Media Freedom (ECPMF).
It should be noted that a similar exclusion of journalists and media — and its condemnation — occurred during the prime minister’s press conference at TIF in 2024, as reported in detail by GovWatch.
Under the rule of law system, where individual rights are protected and in particular freedom of the press, journalists must be able to practice their profession freely and independently, without censorship and without disproportionate or unjustified restrictions, in order to provide comprehensive information to the public on matters of major public interest.
Although freedom of the press is explicitly guaranteed by Article 14(2) of the Constitution, in the case under review numerous statements from journalists’ unions and media outlets highlight and denounce unjustified and disproportionate restrictions on press freedom. These restrictions were imposed on journalists and media during the process of submitting questions to the government, undermining accountability on issues of public interest.
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