The transmission of tragic events must be governed by moderation, responsibility and respect for human dignity. Informing public opinion must be limited to necessary and confirmed information, not to an endless cycle of images, speculation and premature attribution of responsibility.
In European legal systems, the retransmission of images and videos from the moment of a collision is systematically avoided. It does not provide information. It violates the privacy of the victims and recycles the trauma. We saw it in Tempi, we are unfortunately seeing it now, both in yesterday’s tragic loss of the PAOK fans and in the tragedy at the “VIOLANTA” factory.
In the same context, our extrajudicial intervention towards television stations and news websites became necessary, in order to stop the public debate and speculation surrounding the death of the Fire Chief. The continued exposure and unsubstantiated commentary directly hurt his family, insulting the memory of a man who served his duty.
Society is overwhelmed by “experts”, digital representations and a hunt for statements from tragic figures of relatives. However, relatives do not owe it to society to experience every minute, publicly and repeatedly, their pain on live broadcast.
Justice takes time and mourning requires silence.
Overexposure does not serve the truth, it serves television viewing. The search for causes and the attribution of responsibility require sobriety and belong exclusively to the competent authorities. Respect for victims is not a communication choice. It is an institutional and moral obligation of a democratic society.
Kostas Parigoris
Lawyer at the Supreme Court