Junta Controversy
In the aftermath of the 1973 Athens Polytechnic uprising, the regime tried to use Mastorakis' popularity to repair its public image. An interview was set up and broadcast, during which he interviewed, in prison, a number of students who had been arrested during the events. Mastorakis claimed that he had guarantees from Minister of Press Spyridon Zournatzis that the interview would not be censored and that the students would not be prosecuted for speaking freely.
After the fall of the regime in 1974, the students were released from prison and stated that they had been beaten and threatened with legal and extra-legal punishment unless they cooperated in the interview. Nico Mastorakis himself claimed that he had been coerced into making the show, but his popularity had evaporated, and the new management of the Greek TV stations wanted nothing to do with him.
Read more about this topic: Nico Mastorakis
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