The murder of Giorgos Karaivaz, a prominent Greek crime reporter, who was shot and killed near his home in the south of Athens on Friday, has bolstered fears that investigative journalism in Europe is under attack.

The Greek government has launched an investigation into the brazen daylight murder.

The Association of European Journalists (AEJ) released a statement condemning the attack, saying that state and non-state actors have become increasingly hostile to media outlets and reporters engaged in investigative journalism.

"The Greek authorities must conduct an urgent, independent and effective investigation and bring the killers of Giorgos Karaivaz to justice to prevent a further erosion of public trust,” the AEJ’s Media Freedom Representative, William Horsley, stated.

Star TV, the network Karaivaz worked for, said the journalist had just returned from work in the afternoon when two men on a motorcycle drew up and one opened fire at close range.

In November last year the European Parliament issued a highly critical report on media freedom and the protection of journalists in Europe.

MEPs recalled the murders of Daphne Caruana Galizia in Malta in 2017 and the mafia-style killings in 2018 of Slovak investigative journalist Jan Kuciak and his fiancée.

The European Parliament called on all 47 member states of the Council of Europe to fully implement the Council’s Recommendation on the protection of journalism and the safety of journalists.

In the past six years the Council of Europe’s online tracker of attacks against journalists – the so-called Platform for the Safety of Journalists -- has recorded as many as thirty killings of journalists.