GREECE LIFTS PRESS CENSOR BUT EDITORS ARE DISGRUNTLED [Philadelphia Bulletin, 23 MAR 1970]

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP88-01314R000300490012-7
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 16, 2016
• Document Release Date: September 1, 2004
• Sequence Number: 12
• Publication Date: March 23, 1970
• Content Type: NSPR

C`
PHILADELPI:IA BULL t:!'IN
Approved For Release 2004/0924 W 4 1 P88-01314R0
Greece Lifts Press Censor `~
,But Editors Are Disgruntled'
By DAVID BURK
Spacial to The IluNetin
Athcns - Newspapers are no
longer censored in Greece, but
most publishers and editors are
openly charging that they have
less freedom now than under
censorship.
-Onlw three of Athens' 10 news-
papers are solidly pro=reglme-
Eleftheros Kosmos (Free World)
and two founded by the regime,
I`'ca Politia (New State) and its
two-month-old afternoon paper,
Ta Simerina (Today). One Irony
Is that these three are among
those pewspapers with the
smallest circulation.
The most defiant daily and
afternoon journals have the
largest sales, with circulation
increasing in direct ratio to
their- defiance. Ethnos (The
State). .which previously had
been foundering financially, sud-
denly :discovered itself in the
black ;tecently as news Items
and editorials attacking the re-
gime sent circulation spiraling.
What Will Tasca Do?
Observers here, who have
been watching the Ethnos cam-
paign, see its sudden frenzy of
criticism as its dying gasps. But
few persons understand the de-
vious twists of domestic politics
and the observers could be
wrong.
Ethnos is thought to have de-
cided that the regime will not
openly apply any. of the meas-
ures of the new press law that
I could drag editors and publish-
ers through the --'courts, fine
them, imprison them, and even
shut the paper.
Two reasons why Ethnos and
some' of its fellows hold this
view:
Greece, distressed at. having
been forced to quit the Council
of Europe last December,
knows she is being watched;
and the regime Is still unccrtainl
what the new U. S. ambassador,
Henry J. Tasca, will recom-
mend to President Nixon as a
basis for Washington policy to-,
ward Greece,
American diplomatic sources
say Tasca Is doing a great deal
of listening and very little talk-
ing. This has made Tasca's
presence here almost as upset-
ting for, the regime as the full
year prior to his arrival when
/the post of ambassador stayed
empty. The Athens regime,
notably friendless, would ? like
the assurance It1~ ~ss It ash-
ingtAwf 4~oFPt@r v.
ponents credit it with.
Other Means Used
Consequently, the regime Is
believed to be far from anxious
to take any drastic measures
against critical editors and pub-
lishers that would attract at-
tention.
The editors and publishers,
meanwhile, are charging that
the regime has been using other
- often irregular means to
muzzle an unfriendly press.
The Athens News, one of the
city's two English-language
dailies, recently joined some of
its Greek colleagues in inform-
ing readers that it will ignore
the two 'state-run ? orchestras,
and the opera and theater com-
panies.
Behind this lies the regime's
decision to withhold all state ad-
vertising from any journal fail-
ing to toe the line.
The afternoon Akropolis, an-
swering regime-inspired de-
nial, bluntly state that "during
all of 19G9 Akropolis received no
government advertising. This ad-
vertising was once worth mil-
lions of drachma."
Ethnos and at least three
Other Greek dailies have for
weeks been charging in print
that the authorities are restrict-
ing their sales by having police
threaten vendors. These papers
say that as a result vendors
favor pro-regime papers and
keep others out of sight.
Government Denies It
Ethnos demanded on page one
that Premier George Papado-
poulos "either stop restricting
circulation or reimpose censor-
ship." The announcement, chal-
lenging the. regime's "sincerity
and courage," said. "There are
areas of . Greece where the
people believe we have ceased
publication."
In another incident. Ethnos,
which was serializing a survey
n the Greek press by the in-
ternational Press Institute, said
copies were seized by police
from newsstands for bannering
its, story: "The Press in Greece
is In Danger." But.: ten's of
thousands of copies had already
been sold.
The regime Itself denies all
these charges.' An official an-
nouncement blamed "profes-
sional international and local
slanderers" for accusations that
the Greek press is not entirely
free since romul atlon of the
@QOd,It0l n-Aw A ,
The ahnouncement offered the!
soaring circulation figures of
Ethnos In support of its case-
an argument rejected here both
by publishers and the diplo-
013148000300490012-7
STAT,