Italy

Francesco Gangemi, editor of monthly magazine The Debate, was sentenced to two years in jail over eight libel convictions that he had accumulated in the last seven years. Gangemi is disabled and has cancer, local reports say.

Three Italian journalists were convicted of defaming a Palermo magistrate in an article published in the weekly news magazine Panorama in 2010. The article in question alleged that the magistrate had connections to organised crime.

The last several months in Italy have seen a few disquieting attacks against independent media and an investigative reporter. The Federazione Anarchica Italiana, an anarchist organisation, has claimed responsibility for one of the attacks.

La Stampa’s offices in Turin received a package containing a cloth compact disc carrier with explosive powder, cables and a detonator inside. The package contained no note or information about who sent it or why.

The Italian senate’s 123-29 vote yesterday reversed its approval earlier this month of an amendment to existing law that would have seen journalists convicted of libel imprisoned for up to a year, while their editors would face fines of up to €50,000.

An Italian court has upheld a criminal libel suit against editor Alessandro Sallusti, sentencing him to 14 months in prison.

ARTICLE 19 calls on the Italian Parliament to repeal criminal defamation legislation following the conviction of journalist Orfeo Donatini and former newspaper director Tiziano Marson.

The bill aims to curb the publication of police wiretaps in news media and would force websites to publish corrections.

Authorities are setting up a system for Internet filtering without referring to the courts, effectively acting as both plaintiff and judge, prompting fears of preventive censorship.

CPJ calls on Florence and Perugia authorities to drop the trumped-up defamation lawsuit against Perugia Shock, an English-language blog created by freelance journalist Frank Sfarzo.

CPJ is troubled by the manifest intolerance to criticism displayed by Perugia Public Prosecutor Giuliano Mignini, who has filed or threatened to file criminal lawsuits against individual reporters, writers, and press outlets, both in Italy and the United States.

IPI is also concerned that current defamation laws encourage self-censorship.

In an unexpected telephone call broadcast live during a television show that was reporting on an ongoing prostitution investigation, Silvio Berlusconi criticised the programme.

Political influence and conflicts of interest are key issues, says the organisation

Media concentration and absence of effective conflict of interest laws are causes for concern, says IPI.

IPI calls on Chamber of Deputies to reject bill restricting investigative journalism