This is not the first time Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni has dragged a journalist to court.
Rome:
A court in Milan has ordered a journalist who mocked Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni in a social media post to pay 5,000 euros ($5,465) in damages, ANSA and other local media reported.
Journalist Giulia Cortese was also given a suspended fine of 1,200 euros for making what she described as “body shaming” comments about Meloni’s height on Twitter (now known as X) in October 2021.
The Italian government has serious problems regarding freedom of expression and dissenting voices for journalists. The country seems to be moving closer to Orban’s Hungary. It’s a tough time for independent journalists and opinion leaders. Let’s hope for better days ahead. We will not give up!@Reutershttps://t.co/sWojOlMJz1
— Giulia Cortese (@GiuliaCortese1) July 18, 2024
Responding to a Reuters article about the ruling, Cortese wrote to X on Thursday that “the Italian government has serious problems regarding freedom of expression and dissenting voices of journalists.”
Meloni had taken legal action against the journalist three years ago after the two women clashed on social media.
Meloni, from the far-right Brothers of Italy party, which was then in the opposition, responded to Cortese’s comments by publishing a caricature of himself against the background of a photograph of the late fascist leader Benito Mussolini.
Ms Cortese responded with further tweets, one of which translated as: “Giorgia Meloni, you don’t scare me. After all, you’re only 1.2 metres (4 feet) tall. I can’t see you.”
Meloni’s height is listed as between 1.58m and 1.63m on various media websites.
Ms Cortese can appeal the sentence, and Ms Meloni’s lawyers said the chancellor will donate any damages she eventually receives to charity.
In an English-language article in the newspaper X on Thursday, Cortese said it was a tough time for independent journalists in Italy.
“Let’s hope for better days to come. We will not give up!” she added.
Reporters Without Borders this year dropped Italy five places to 46th in its 2024 World Press Freedom Index, citing the high number of lawsuits against journalists.
This is not the first time Meloni has sued a journalist: last year a Rome court fined best-selling author Roberto Saviano 1,000 euros plus legal costs for insulting his hardline stance against illegal immigration on television in 2021.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
