Legal claims of defamation against reporters and news organizations are, it goes without saying, a blight against civil society. Legislatures in many countries, and the European Commission more broadly, have moved forward in rewriting defamation laws to protect the free movement of information and expression. Anti-SLAPP legislation has progressed since the tragic murder in 2017 of Malta investigative reporter Daphne Caruana Galizia who was beset with hundreds of defamation claims. It comes as no surprise that lawmakers en extremist want to create even more legal pain for those who toil in the news media.
The Italian Senate, through its Justice Committee, has attempted drafting reforms of the country’s defamation laws for several months. Current law makes defamation a crime punishable by long prison terms and stiff fines. Reforms have been proposed to bring Italy’s law closer to positions common in the European Union.
That screeched to a halt last week as Italian senator Gianni Berrino tabled amendments to measurably revert the draft legislation. Prison terms, removed from the draft, would remain in place, four years and fines for "repeated and coordinated conduct" raised to as much as €120,000, reported La Presse (April 11). The “reforms” also included banning reporters from working for three months to three years. Senator Berrino is a member of the far-right Brothers of Italy (Fratelli d'Italia) political party.
After a weekend of outrage from more moderate politicians and nearly every corner of the Italian media, Senator Berrino grudgingly dropped his quest. “In line with the ruling of the (committee), I had presented two amendments to guarantee the full protection of people offended by 'mud machine' mechanisms,” he said in a statement quoted by Sky TG24 (April 15). “The need to proceed quickly with the approval of the bill on defamation convinced me to withdraw the amendments which in any case significantly lightened the penalties currently foreseen."
“It is the victory of common sense,” said centrist Noi Moderati (Us Moderates) party president Maurizio Lupi. “We were the first to express ourselves clearly against the provision of prison terms of up to 4 years for journalists for the crime of defamation. Now we learn that the proposed amendments have been withdrawn: a choice in line with what we had asked for in the spirit of protecting the victims of defamation, but also an important professional category, such as journalists."
“There is concern about freedom of the press," added Partito Democratico (Democratic Party) secretary Elly Schlein through the Foreign Press Association (April 15). "What would we call a government that tries to restrict the spaces of free information, that turns RAI into Tele Meloni, that attacks the judiciary? These are things we have already seen in Europe and you are witnesses to it. It is a drift that we are not willing to tolerate.” The derisive nickname Tele Meloni has been applied widely to public broadcaster RAI since shifts to accommodate prime minister Giorgia Meloni.
Italian media watchers remain on high alert. “Senator Berrino has withdrawn the prison amendments to the defamation bill,” noted Federazione Nazionale Della Stampa Italiana (Italian National Press Federation - FNSI) general secretary Alessandra Costante, in a statement. “They were unjust and uncivilized amendments that would have brought Italy to the borders of Hungary. Fortunately, part of the majority was aware of this, and we are now in the hope that, together with the other democratic political forces, they will get to work to make the defamation bill more European, which however has many critical issues for information." Everybody understands the reference to Hungary.