Italy / Europe & Central Asia

  
A police car is seen in Rome, Italy, on July 31, 2019. Police are investigating recent attacks against journalist Mario De Michele. (AP/Paolo Santalucia)

Italian journalist Mario De Michele survives shooting attempt

Berlin, November 18, 2019 — Italian authorities must conduct a transparent and thorough investigation into the attempted shooting of journalist Mario De Michele and ensure his safety, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today.

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A newsstand in Rome in May 2019. Over 20 journalists in Italy are provided with round-the-clock police protection because of threats from groups including the mafia. (Reuters/Guglielmo Mangiapane

‘I was the first to lose my freedom’: How police protection impacts Italy’s investigative reporters

Explaining the sudden presence of two grim-looking bodyguards in a way that wouldn’t scare her children was never going to be easy for Federica Angeli, a reporter for la Repubblica. So when Angeli returned home with police protection for the first time in July 2013, she tried to turn the situation into a game. “I…

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Italian police are seen in Ostia on November 10, 2017. Journalist Claudio Lattanzio’s car was recently destroyed in an arson attack in Sulmona. (AFP/Filippo Monteforte)

Italian photojournalist Claudio Lattanzio’s car destroyed in arson attack

On August 15, 2019, in Sulmona, central Italy, unidentified individuals burned the car of Claudio Lattanzio, a photojournalist for local daily Il Centro and collaborator with Italian news agency Ansa, according to a report by the daily.

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Protesters clash with riot police in Naples on May 16, 2019. Riot police recently assaulted La Repubblica reporter Stefano Origone while he was working in Genoa. (AFP/Carlo Hermann)

Italian riot police beat La Repubblica reporter Stefano Origone

Berlin, May 24, 2019 — Italian authorities should swiftly and thoroughly investigate the police beating of La Repubblica reporter Stefano Origone and hold those responsible to account, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today.

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An Italian police officer is seen on May 23, 2017. A journalist's car was recently burned in Sicily, in a case that police have linked to their journalism. (Reuters/Yara Nardi)

Journalist’s car burned in Italy

Unknown perpetrators set fire to the car of Gaetano Scariolo, a reporter at the daily Giornale di Sicilia and the Agi News Agency, on May 10, 2019, in a case that police have linked to Scariolo’s journalism, according to reports by the journalist’s employers.

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An Italian police officer is seen on October 31, 2018. Police recently arrested seven men who assaulted a journalist in Vicenza. (AP/Andrew Medichini)

Italian journalist assaulted, robbed while reporting in park

On April 2, 2019, Valentino Gonzato, an Italian reporter with the daily newspaper Il Giornale di Vicenza, was assaulted by a group of seven people while reporting in Fornaci Park in Vicenza, a city in Northern Italy, according to his employer.

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Women rest on a ship run by the Maltese non-governmental group Moas and the Italian Red Cross after a rescue operation in the Mediterranean in November 2016. In Italy, journalists say they are regularly harassed and threatened online over their coverage of migration issues. (AFP/Andreas Solaro)

Italy’s migrant beat beset with smear campaigns, harassment

When Annalisa Camilli spent eight days on an Open Arms ship that rescues migrants in the Mediterranean, she knew her reporting for the Italian news magazine Internazionale may attract trolls. Camilli has covered the migrant beat for years and this was her second trip with the non-profit rescue operation. But, the reporter said, she was…

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Roberto Saviano seen at the 69th Berlinale International Film Festival in Berlin on February 12, 2019. Saviano is facing criminal defamation charges issued by Italy's interior minister. (Annegret Hilse/Reuters)

Italy’s Matteo Salvini pursues criminal defamation against journalist Roberto Saviano

Berlin, March 29, 2019 — The Italian interior minister, Matteo Salvini, should immediately drop criminal defamation charges against freelance investigative journalist and author Roberto Saviano, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today.

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Members of the Italian far-right political party Forza Nuova wave flags during a demonstration on November 4, 2017, in central Rome. On January 7, 2019, members of Forza Nouva and other extremist groups attacked two reporters covering an event in Rome. (AFP/Andreas Solaro)

Italian journalists harassed and assaulted by far-right extremists

Berlin, January 8, 2019–Italian authorities should quickly and thoroughly investigate the harassment and physical assault of two Italian journalists by a group of far-right extremists and bring those responsible to justice, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today.

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Customers read Italian dailies La Repubblica and La Stampa in Rome on March 3, 2016. Italian police searched a La Repubblica journalist's home and seized electronic devices on September 13, 2018, in Palermo. (AFP/Gabriel Bouys)

Italian police search journalist’s home, seize electronic devices

Berlin, September 19, 2018–The Committee to Protect Journalists today condemned an Italian prosecutor’s order to search the home of Salvo Palazzolo, a journalist for the daily newspaper La Repubblica, and seize the journalist’s electronic devices. On September 13, Italian police in Palermo, Sicily, seized Palazzolo’s mobile phone, tablet computer, and three hard drives during the…

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