The article 14 of the Constitution leaves no room for misinterpretation. The press is free. Censorship is prohibited. Not “conditionally”. Not “as long as it’s convenient”. It is absolutely and universally prohibited. The Constitution was not enacted to protect the sensibilities of political figures but to ensure that society knows what it needs to know — even if it is inconvenient.
Under this fundamental assumption, the publication excerpts from the book by Alexis Tsipras it is not bound by any provision, any limitation, any statutory footnote. It is about a public person, about a political issue, about material that directly concerns public life. What was published results from a journalistic investigation and not from “interception of digital files”, as the publishing house of the book claims. Mr. Tsipras himself decided to proceed with revelations concerning the lives of citizens. No court can, therefore, prevent publication. And, as the Supreme Court ruled years ago US Court, The Presss does not serve the rulers — serves the governed.
And yet, the discussion does not end there. Because the problem is not legal; it is deeply political. In the case of the relevant publications, the effort to silence goes beyond all limits, reviving attitudes that the Post-colonialism was supposed to have definitively abandoned. It’s not just a nuisance. It is an overt temptation to control information and, by extension, public discourse.
Democracy is not only threatened by those who oppose it. It is also threatened by those who think they can manage it as they please, impose filters on it, dictate what is “permissible” to publish. Censorship does not always appear in uniforms and edicts; it often appears in announcements, innuendos, and “suggestions.” And that’s why it’s more dangerous.
It is a basic obligation of the press to publish. And it is an elementary obligation of politicians to withstand publication. Those who struggle with this simple truth have no problem with the news. They have a problem with democracy.
And that—in the end—is the real concern.