Threats against the president of Italian journalists’ federation

The president of the Italian Federation of Journalists (FNSI), Beppe Giulietti, has been the target of a campaign of harassment and intimidation on social networks since 18 August. The campaign is fuelled by online accounts that advocate extreme right-wing theses. The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) calls for justice to respond. On August 7, the daily newspaper “Libero” issued an article saying that migrants had killed and eaten five dogs belonging to a resident of Lampedusa. Several journalists including Angela Caponnetto of Rai News 24 and Nello Scavo of the newspaper “Avvenire” proved that this  was false information not based on…

Italian minister Salvini threatened journalist Roberto Saviano with withdrawal of his police protection

On May 29th, Italian Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of the Interior Matteo Salvini published a video on Facebook in which he threatened the journalist Roberto Saviano with the withdrawal of his police protection from mafia. Saviano has been under constant police protection since 2006, after he published the book “Gommora”, denouncing the practices of the Camorra, the Neapolitan mafia. In the video, Matteo Salvini sends a kiss to the camera, saying “A kiss to Saviano. I’m working on a revision of the criteria for the escorts that every day in Italy commit more than two thousand law enforcement workers.”.…

Italy: Riot police beats up journalist covering Neo-Fascist demonstration

On May 23, Stefano Origone, an Italian journalist was beaten up by riot police officers while covering clashes among demonstrators in a rally of the far-right party CasaPound in Genoa. A video published by Origone’s employer, the Italian daily newspaper La Repubblica, shows that he was being kicked at and beaten up with batons even though he identified himself as a journalist. The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) was shocked by the attack of the Italian police on Origone and called for an investigation of the attack. According to Origone, he had huddled on the ground in a foetal position without defending…

FNSI Congress

The EFJ GS Ricardo Gutiérrez will attend the congress of the Italian Federation of Journalists’ Unions (FNSI).

Italy: increasing attacks against status of journalists

On 27 November, Italian MEP Isabella De Monte (S&D) organised the event “The challenges of European Journalism”, taking as an example the recent problems of Italian journalism, such as politicians’ attempts to undermine public media credibility and the difficult economic situation of Italian journalists and media, to discuss about the more widespread attacks to free press throughout Europe. An issue that has to be addressed right now before the European elections with disinformation on the rise said De Monte. The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) was represented by its director Renate Schroeder, participating together with Raffaele Lorusso, general secretary of the affiliate Federazione Nazionale della Stampa…

Italy: Deputy Prime Minister Di Maio insulted journalists

On November 10 2018, in occasion of the acquittal of Virginia Raggi, the mayor of Rome who was charged with forgery in relation to the appointment of Renato Marra as head of the Tourism Department, the Italian Deputy Prime Minister Luigi Di Maio and the Five Stars Movement MP Alessandro Di Battista attacked again Italian journalists. The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) joins its Italian affiliate, Federazione Nazionale della Stampa Italiana (FNSI), in organising a protest action  on November 13 to speak out against these systematic attacks against the press in Italy with the hashtag #GiùLeManiDallInformazione (Hands off the information).…

Murder of Daphne Caruana Galizia: EFJ and FNSI join Malta mission

The European Federation of Journalists and its Italian affiliate FNSI will join a group of international press freedom and freedom of expression organisations from October 15-17 on a mission to Malta. The group will support local civil society actions marking the one-year anniversary of the death of investigative journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia, and conduct fact-finding into the case and broader press freedom issues in the country. The group has requested meetings with government officials, including Prime Minister Joseph Muscat, as well as a wide range of civil society stakeholders. The EFJ will be represented by Anna Del Freo (FNSI), member…

EFJ condemns Italian government threat to cut indirect state funding to newspapers

Italian government threatens to cut indirect state funding to the press, accusing newspapers of “polluting the debate”. The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) and the European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) join their affiliate the Federazione Nazionale Stampa Italiana (FNSI) in strongly condemning these threats and expressing serious concerns over the press situation in Italy. The government’s announcement was made on 12 September and throughout last week by Luigi Di Maio, head of the populist Five Star Movement (M5S) and key figure in Italy’s government. On his Facebook account, the deputy prime minister threatened the press in a post saying that…

Italy: Journalist Roberto Saviano sued for defamation by Minister of Interior Matteo Salvini

Italian journalist and writer Roberto Saviano has been sued by the Minister of Interior Matteo Salvini on 20 June under allegations on defamation. The lawsuit was a result of a Twitter thread about the reconsideration of the journalist’s police escort and Salvini’s migration policy, calling for reaction from the Minister to a recent incident where a refugee woman and a child were found drowned in the Mediterranean sea. Saviano named him “a buffon” and “minister of the underworld”. Matteo Salvini, minister of interior, deputy prime minister and the leader of the right-wing League party, has been receiving critics from local and…