The 22nd of February 2010 was an ill-fated day for German “Focus” editors. That day an insulting photograph and article against the dreadful financial situation in Greece were published and caused outrage. For those who do not view the magazine, the cover featured a photograph of goddess Aphrodite making an obscene gesture. At the time, the president of the Greek parliament even summoned the German ambassador to complain about German media coverage of Greece.
Now, more than a year later, many Greek people still think that it was more than a provocative piece of journalism and still feel particularly offended. Now a group of six Greeks are taking legal action suing the journalists involved for defamation and accusing them of making false claims.
According to reports of the German newspapers Handelsblatt and Tagesspiegel, Helmut Markwort, the magazine’s founder who was also editor in chief of Focus at the time of publication, and nine other Focus employees are due to appear in an Athens court on June 29th. Nevertheless, Mr. Helmut does not seem to accept those accusations.
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