“Twenty-five years of news of a city and a province. Crossed by a free, authoritative and professional voice that informed, stimulated, denounced, in an area where in the institutions there were those who still said that the mafia did not exist. A young editorial team, a hotbed of journalists, which introduced many of us to what was then the profession, but also a point of meeting and debate between colleagues. A place of memory now, which we miss.” The provincial secretary of Assostampa Trapani, Vito Orlando, said this at the inauguration of the exhibition “The Trapani editorial team of La Sicilia: 1990-2015” held yesterday afternoon in the association’s premises in Casa Santa, in a property confiscated from organized crime. Present at the event were the prefect of Trapani Daniela Lupo, Alessandra Costante, general secretary of the National Press Federation, the mayor of Erice Daniela Toscano, the extraordinary commissioner of the ASP Trapani Ferdinando Croce, and the leaders of Assostampa Sicilia. The director of the newspaper Antonello Piraneo and the president of the Order of Journalists of Sicily Roberto Gueli connected via video conference.
“It is a great emotion – said Mariza D’Anna – to be able to retrace the 25 years of work of the Trapani editorial team of the newspaper La Sicilia di Catania which believed and invested in information in this province. An editorial team started by professionals in which trained many young colleagues and which quickly became a point of reference for the local press and beyond and which in those years also played a fundamental role in the growth of the city”.
The exhibition tells the story of over two decades of news about the city through photos and newspaper pages. The treasurer of Assostampa, Mariza D’Anna, who ran the Trapani editorial team for many years, illustrated the exhibition’s itinerary to those in attendance. This was followed by a participatory OdG training course for journalists on “Right to information, between news, precarious employment and gag rules” where, together with Costante, the director and national councilor of the FNSI Tommaso Daquanno and Roberto Ginex, the president of the regional council and the deputy secretary of Assostampa Sicilia, Tiziana Tavella and Roberto Leone, and the secretary of Assostampa Messina Sergio Magazzù. “The union is proximity – said Alessandra Costante – doing so is not just engaging in great battles, but it is daily effort. Sicily is a region that needs presence because here information workers struggle even more so to have their rights recognised, and the united journalists’ union must be present there.
