Threatened Journalists: The latest news in brief from Ossigeno

What happened to Alice Martinelli, Paolo Borrometi, Klaus Davi, Giuseppe Perfetti, Carlo Alvino, Salvatore Sparavigna, Giorgio Santoriello and Giusi Cavallo

In the last week Ossigeno per l’Informazione has verified that the seven incidents described below fall into the category of violations of the freedom of expression and media freedom and Ossigeno has added to the List of Names the names of the eight journalists and bloggers subjected to these unjustifiable attacks.

1 Alice Martinelli, Salerno – On the 17th March 2018 in Salerno, Alice Martinelli, a correspondent of the Italia 1 television programme, Le Iene and the camerawoman who was with her were assaulted with slaps, bites, kicks and punches by a woman accused of organising on-line scams whilst they attempted to interview her. The video camera was destroyed. See the coverage on the website of Le Iene.

2 Paolo Borrometi on Facebook – On the 27th February 2018, the journalist Paolo Borrometi, chief editor of LaSpia.it received warnings on Facebook from relatives of a person sought by the police who directed obscene and rancorous phrases at him.

3 Klaus Davi, Milano – on the 3rd May 2018 the expert in mass media, Klaus Davi received an anonymous letter by post containing threats, offensive phrases and the picture of two blindfolded men with a noose around their necks. The letter had been addressed to his office in Milan. The envelope was postmarked Lamezia Terme. Read the news item on the website of AdnKronos.

4 Giuseppe Perfetti, Roma – on the 2nd May 2018 in Rome, in the Parioli neighbourhood, Giuseppe Perfetti, cameraman of the regional news programme of Rai, Tg Lazio, whilst recording in front of the home of a young man who had probably died from drug abuse, was attacked by two young men who warned him to leave if he wanted to avoid further trouble. Perfetti was attacked from behind; the video camera was torn out of his hands, thrown onto the ground and kicked. Read about the incident on the FNSI website.

5 Carlo Alvino, Naples – on the 6th May 2018 in Naples, in front of the San Paolo stadium, before the start of the match between Naples and Torino, a group of fans forced the journalist Carlo Alvino a reporter from the local TV station TeleLuna to suspend a live TV broadcast. The ultras dragged him by the arm and told him, “We won’t beat you up but switch everything off and go away.” The Journalists Union of Campania (SUGC) expressed solidarity with the reporter, saying in a statement, “Groups of hooligan fans must be kept away from football stadiums. Several of the participants in this episode are well known to the police and are subject to other investigations. It is also fundamental to understand to what extent organised crime controls certain groups of fans. Football has to be freed from elements that have nothing to do with sporting competitions.” Read the coverage on il24.it.

6 Salvatore Sparavigna, Naples – on the 19th May 2018 the journalist and photo-journalist Salvatore Sparavigna reported to the carabinieri of Trecase (Napoli) that he had found in the mailbox of his house at Torre Annunziata in the province of Naples, an anonymous threatening note. On a white sheet of paper folded in two there was the hand-written message in felt-tip pen, “You’ll meet the same end as Siani” , a clear reference to the Neapolitan journalist Giancarlo Siani killed by the crime organisation, the camorra in September 1985.
The incident was made public by Sparavigna himself on his own Facebook page. The journalists union of Campania (SUGC) has responded. Read here the news item on NapoliToday.

7 Giorgio Santoriello, Giusi Cavallo, Naples – on the 10th October 2017 the general prosecutor of the Tribunal of Naples ruled against proceeding in the case of Giorgio Santoriello and the journalist Giusi Cavallo, collaborator and chief editor of the online newspaper Basilicata24. The decision was reached almost three years since the lawsuit was initiated by the businessman Giovanni Pellini for defamation in an article about the awarding of a maintenance contract of the water-metering network. Read the news item on Analizebasilicata.altervista.org.

RDM DB (wt)