Our solidarity with Sigfrido Ranucci.

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Our solidarity with Sigfrido Ranucci. Italy has a problem with press freedom.

Last night the journalist and host of Report, Sigfrido Ranucci, was the victim of what appears to be an act of intimidation. According to Ranucci, based on the investigators’ initial findings, a rudimentary explosive device was placed under his car and detonated, damaging it as well as his daughter’s car. It was, the journalist said, a device that could have killed.

Our solidarity goes to Sigfrido Ranucci. Alongside that solidarity is deep concern—something we have raised repeatedly in recent years. In the latest Media Freedom Report by the Civil Liberties Union for Europe, to which CILD contributes for the Italian section, we highlighted how freedom of expression in Italy is increasingly fragile. The concentration of media ownership in a few hands and the resulting lack of pluralism, as well as political control over the public broadcasting system, severely limit journalists’ freedom. On top of this come physical assaults and threats, as well as the growing use of SLAPPs (strategic lawsuits against public participation): vexatious legal actions used to silence investigations carried out by journalists and civil society organisations.

In 2024, according to Mapping Media Freedom, more than 130 attacks on journalists were recorded in Italy.

Italy is also the country with the highest number of SLAPPs (26 cases in 2024). Seventeen of the 44 lawsuits monitored against journalists involve public and political figures. The danger posed by these legal actions is compounded by the fact that in Italy defamation remains a criminal offence punishable by imprisonment.

We have a problem. It needs to be fixed, but the government does not appear inclined to act—despite the anti-SLAPP directive and the new European Media Freedom Act, which require urgent measures to safeguard freedom of expression and information.