This year’s Media Freedom report on Italy is an eye-opener. Ossigeno per l’Informazione, a small Italian NGO, has uncovered a truly shocking picture of the Italian media working under routine threats of reprisals, mafia violence, and libel suits which can still land them in jail. Ossigeno reports that 2,500 Italian journalists have been the targets of intimidation in the past ten years; parliament has so far been paralysed in the face of international pressure to de-criminalise libel. And the Italian media and parliament have signally failed, until now, to expose this systematic form of censorship to the public and correct it. Ossigeno puts forward a radical manifesto for Europe-wide action, including pressure on Italy to correct the failings of its legal system, and stricter monitoring through a new network of offices to record cases of intimidation against journalists.
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