Potenza: A journalist’s car is damaged and insults directed at her

Maria Fedota is the chief editor of Cronache Lucane. The newspaper had been subjected to criticism on social media and during the rallies for the regional elections of March 24th 2019.

In Potenza, in the night between the 9th and the 10th March 2019, unknown persons damaged the car of journalist Maria Fedota, chief editor of the newspaper Cronache Lucane. The car was parked in the street, near the house of the journalist who immediately alerted the police. The Digos (the special operational division of the police) is investigating the matter. The Journalists Order of Basilicata and Assostampa (the press association of Basilicata) expressed solidarity with Maria Fedota. Ossigeno had already taken up the case of the reporter.

In the days before the car was damaged, the journalist revealed in her newspaper that she had received a series of threatening phone calls and sexist insults.

In Potenza the electoral campaign was underway for the renewal of the council and the regional council of Basilicata (on the 24th March Vito Bardi was elected president of the region). Since February 2019 the publication has been repeatedly criticized publicly and accused on Facebook of poor professionalism. It had also been publicly attacked during an election rally.

At first “Cronache Lucane” had decided not to publish news of the threatening phone calls in order “not to foment instrumentalization, especially in this delicate phase of electoral campaign”. According to the newspaper, the threats would have come “from political circles close to one of the presidential candidates”.

RDM (wt)