Italian media protested yesterday — with one national newspaper running a blank front page — against a law curbing police wiretaps and imposing fines for news organizations that publish transcripts.
The law, which was passed a first hurdle with a confidence vote in the Senate on Thursday, is hotly contested not only by most media but also by magistrates who say it will greatly hamper their fight against corruption and organized crime.
The left-leaning La Repubblica ran a front page with no news but only tiny “post-it” style yellow memo reading: “The gagging law will deny citizens the right to be informed.”
“We are running a blank front page to tell readers ... that democracy has been short-circuited,” La Repubblica said in an editorial by its editor in chief, Ezio Mauro.
Corriere della Sera called it “a dark day” for justice and L’Unita, paper of the largest opposition party, ran its headline with typeface that was used when Fascist dictator Benito Mussolini ran Italy with an iron fist and controlled the media.
Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi says the new rules are needed to protect privacy, but the opposition accuses the government of scrambling to cover up corruption with another tailor-made law that follows measures to shield him from prosecution while in office.
The journalists’ union has called a strike for July 9 and vowed “all-out, unending resistance.”
Under the draft, magistrates can order wiretaps only if they have serious evidence that a crime has been committed. They would have to be approved by a panel of three judges and would only last up to 75 days. Extensions would be possible only in increments of three days at a time.
Special authorization would be needed to tap the phones of parliamentarians and priests. Media would be banned from publishing transcripts or summaries and face restrictions when reporting on a probe until preliminary investigations are over, which can take years in Italy’s slow justice system.
Publishers who violate the law could be fined up to 450,000 euros (US$600,000). Journalists risk up to three years in jail.
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