Slogans written on walls against 3 reporters of “La Repubblica”

Carlo Bonini and Marco Mensurati were insulted for having published an unprecedented background article on the crisis affecting the team. Fabio Tonacci, also targeted for reporting the attack on his colleagues

On walls in Rome on May 29th and 30th 2019 intimidating slogans against the journalists Carlo Bonini and Marco Mensurati appeared. One slogan defined Bonini as “infamous and a liar”. Another threatened both with these words: “whoever touches the Roma football team dies!”.

The previous day the newspaper “La Repubblica” had published an investigation of their own with an unprecedented background on the crisis of the Roma football club culminating in the sacking of the coach Eusebio Di Francesco and the disputes between two factions headed by the former player and now a director Francesco Totti and the team captain Daniele De Rossi.

On June 2nd in an article by Fabio Tonacci (“Threats to journalists in a Rome sick of football”), the newspaper gave an account of the slogans on walls and of an intimidation campaign conducted in the same tone on numerous local radio stations specialized in football news and listed in the article. The article also reported that there had been similar intimidating attacks against journalists Riccardo Luna (in 2008) and subsequently in 2017, against Alessandro Austini (Il Tempo) and Alessandro Antinelli. The article was accompanied by declarations of solidarity from the management of La Repubblica and the editorial committee of the newspaper. Fabio Tonacci after the publication of this article also, suffered insults and intimidating attacks on social media and on some Roman radio stations.

THE STATEMENT OF CARLO BONINI to Ossigeno: “We all know that in Rome there are many twisted minds and many broken heads as a result of neo-Fascist violence. This time the violence comes from a continuous hate campaign 365 days a year by some local radio stations that incite football supporters, drawing up every day a blacklist of persons who – they say – deserve contempt. Never as in this case is there a more specific responsibility for the Order of Journalists to intervene, because many radio journalists collaborate with these radio stations and so I envisaged that the Order of Journalists will intervene”.

ASP (wt)