Italian reporters protest at Meloni event over ‘gag law’

Members of the National Press Federation (FNSI) stayed away from Giorgia Meloni’s end-of-year conference — delayed to the New Year after she fell ill — in protest over an amendment passed by MPs in December, which will soon be debated in the Senate.

Carlo Bartoli, head of the separate National Order of Journalists which organised the event, noted the smattering of empty chairs in his opening remarks, as Meloni sat beside him.

“We are alarmed by the approval of an amendment that risks putting an end to information on judicial matters,” he said.

The proposal “does not seriously discourage reckless litigation and instead constricts in an unjustified manner... citizen’s rights to free information”, said Bartoli.

The so-called “gag law”, proposed by a member of Italy’s opposition centrist Azione (Action) Party, would forbid journalists from publishing news about the arrest of public figures until the end of a preliminary investigation.

Responding to Bartoli, Meloni noted it was not a government amendment but defended the text, which was passed by the lower chamber of parliament, where her coalition has a majority.

“I don’t see a gag in it,” the premier said, calling it “a balance between the right to inform and a citizen’s rights”.

It would protect a citizen “before he is convicted and often before he can exercise his right of defence, to not find himself in the newspapers or even details that may not be relevant and that hurt his honour”.

But members of the opposition Five Star Movement claim the government’s agenda was “to hide or leave unpunished the misdeeds” of the corrupt and those with vested interests.

Despite Thursday’s boycott, dozens of journalists attended Meloni’s press conference, which lasted more than three hours.

FNSI is also planning protests in front of government buildings around the country to protect “the dignity of the profession... against all censorship”.