Open Letter to Journalists and Media
To those who choose to serve power instead of truth
The role of journalism is not to function as a press office for the authorities of the day. It is not to flatter the powerful, to reproduce one-sided narratives, or to cover up injustices. Its role is to defend truth, justice, the Constitution, human rights, and the voice of those who have no power against the mechanisms of influence.
In the case of Metropolitan Tychikos of Paphos, a large part of the Cypriot media has failed in this mission. Instead of demanding transparency, due process, and respect for basic human rights, you chose to uncritically adopt the line of the Archbishopric and Archbishop George of Cyprus. Daily you promote the logic of "we decide and we command," presenting as a given the guilt of a man before there has even been a real and fair judgment.
For two years now, certain newspapers and journalists have not been serving information but directed propaganda. Their articles do not aim at seeking truth but at shaping impressions, slander, and the moral destruction of a man. And the Cypriot people perceive this.
We are not "supporters" of Tychikos. Most of us neither knew him personally nor have any benefit from defending him. We are not paid, we do not serve mechanisms, we are not dependent on ecclesiastical or political centers. What we feel is the injustice. And this injustice is felt by hundreds of thousands of people in Cyprus and abroad—Christians and non-Christians, people of every ideology and political position.
We see daily a man being publicly vilified without substantial evidence. We see every concept of fair trial being violated, the right to be heard, to defend himself, to be judged objectively and not through predetermined decisions and behind-the-scenes interests. The charges presented publicly appear increasingly unfounded and ridiculous, while behind the case are clearly discernible power games and interests.
And you, instead of investigating, instead of questioning, instead of standing against arbitrariness as your profession demands, choose silence or complicity.
But history judges.
•It judges those who signed articles of defamation.
•It judges those who sacrificed truth for access, money, and favors.
•It judges the newspapers and media that forgot that journalism is a vocation and not a commercial transaction with power.
Decide therefore which side you will serve.
•Truth or interest.
•Justice or submission.
•Human dignity or convenient silence.
The world is not foolish. It is not without will. It is not "animals" as certain people seem to believe. Citizens understand far more than you think. They see who truly informs and who functions as mouthpieces of powerful mechanisms.
And in the end, no matter how powerful authority may seem today, truth remains stronger than any organized effort of disinformation.
Orthodox Christians and thinking citizens from Nicosia, Limassol, Paphos, Larnaca, and Cypriot refugees from our occupied territories.