Italy’s Govt is Attacking Media Freedom – But we Can Stop it

But a police raid on our newsroom was not exactly what I was expecting. None of my colleagues were. 

A 'surreal' raid

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni attends an EU Summit in Brussels, Belgium, March 23, 2023. Photo: EPA-EFE/OLIVIER HOSLET

It came as a shock on Friday March 3. "It was so surreal," says Mattia Ferraresi, Domani's managing editor. Police entered the newsroom with the unusual aim of seizing an article about Claudio Durigon, a member of Meloni's government. 

Before becoming a leading figure in the right-wing populist party Lega, Durigon was a crucial figure in Ugl, a right-wing trade union that supports Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán and far-right governments. Although federal secretary of Lega, Matteo Salvini, supported him, Durigon had to resign from Mario Draghi's 2021-2022 government because of scandals, one of which was about fascist links. But Meloni brought him back into government. 

"Every time we write about him, Durigon sues us," my colleague Nello Trocchia said. "He has done this eight times." 

Trocchia and Giovanni Tizian, the authors of the sequestered article, are authoritative reporters covering collusion between politics and organised crime. Both are under police protection. You would therefore expect the authorities to safeguard their work. They came to seize it, instead. Durigon sued us because of that article, which he didn't even attach to the lawsuit. The piece was publicly available online. Despite this, Mattia Ferraresi had to print out the article for the police. 

When the police came, Tizian was on his way to the newsroom; Trocchia informed his colleague by phone: "Come, the police are here!" Tizian's first thought was to protect their sources: "Don't let...