May 27, 1954
CORRUPTION: Yesterday’s session of Parliament focused once again on the action the government was taking to help the earthquake victims in Thessaly. Mr George Papandreou observed that the government’s claim that it had housed the homeless rapidly was not fully correct. The opposition, in good faith and in a patriotic spirit, had done its duty to the utmost, declaring the truth and not exploiting the disaster, which the government had accused it of. Mr P. Argyropoulos said that if the newspapers were accusing the opposition of exploiting the issue, it was because the Papagos government was responsible. Mr Papandreou replied that this observation suggested that a general examination of the relationship between the «directed» pro-government press and the government was needed. The issue, he said, was serious and would be raised in Parliament. It would be shown how the government was responsible for the fact that the press was financially dependent – to an unprecedented degree – on the will of the government and by extension, for what was essentially the abolition of freedom of the press, which was the foundation of democracy.
