“Without journalism, democracy dies in the dark,” says Pulitzer Prize winner Bob Woodward for his investigation into the Watergate scandal (1973), conducted together with Carl Bernstein and published in the pages of the Washington Post.
The information system has been experiencing a serious crisis for some time, which risks undermining the right-duty of citizens to be informed and, therefore, the democratic stability of the country.
This is even more true in Abruzzo, where in recent years we have witnessed a serious impoverishment of the information system, with the closure of editorial offices and newspapers, accompanied and continues to be accompanied by increasingly widespread precarious employment.
This was stated at the former Aurum by the ANCI, the Order and the union of journalists of Abruzzo, who called the General States of Information.
There are jobs at risk, from print media to local TV.
The interventions
“The publishing crisis in Abruzzo is exacerbated by the absence of a Regional Law, I propose the Constitution in the Region of a table for the writing of this law, open to all components”.
He said this during the General States of Information in Pescara, Gianguido D’Alberto, president of Anci Abruzzo.
“On the first point, protection of employment and freedom of information: to get out of the state of precariousness, we need a structural law and not random funds, which takes into account the digital transformation, we need investments that are appropriate to the needs. Investments also to stem the bleeding of the resources that are being lost, not only the newspapers, but I am also thinking of the newsstands, we need to invest in the culture of information, involve the schools. In short, not a manifesto law, but serious and structural legislation.”
“The absence, this morning, of interlocutors from the regional executive is serious. I understand that the president prefers to dedicate Saturday to family commitments, but he could have delegated any of his assessors.”
These are the words spoken by Stefano Pallotta, President of the Order of Journalists of Abruzzoat the opening of the works of the General States of Information, today at the Aurum in Pescara.
“Instead this morning, here at the Aurum, I only see, and I thank him, the opposition leader, Luciano D’Amico. This says a lot about how this Region wants to address the delicate issue of a total absence of a law on publishing”.
“Given the lack of regional dialogue today, we are taking this opportunity to launch a general mobilization to reach, after many, too many years, an editorial law in Abruzzo”.
He said this in his speech at the States General of Information in Pescara Ezio Cerasi, secretary of the Abruzzo Journalists’ Union (Sga).
“A law he continued – that is not limited to granting tips or funds indiscriminately, but that is a structural law that involves 360 degrees all the problems of information in this region, also regarding, for example, the loss of newsstands in the internal areas, because the distributors are unable to sustain the costs of transporting the newspapers to those places”.
We need a law on publishing, according to Cerasi, “that supports those who apply the rules and not those who increase precarious employment. All the garrisons must be defended, starting from the Center, to defend the entire System.”
“We are experiencing a critical moment at a national level, we need a coordinated and participatory strategy from all the components, the institutional ones, but also from all the stakeholders to get out of this phase in which Italy is bringing up the rear in Europe for what concerns the support of publishing”.
The said it President of the Order of Journalists, Carlo Bartoli, speaking at the General States of Information currently underway in Pescara.
“We need resources to create virtuous policies, it is not possible that 70% of these are used to finance early retirement. We need to support those who hire and those who apply regular contracts in the face of scenarios that change suddenly”.
“There is also a problem related to freedom of information. All international research shows that there is a European and also an Italian problem. There are laws that have been approved that are totally wrong, see the one on the presumption of innocence, and laws that could be approved and which must absolutely be opposed, such as the one on defamation. A change is needed from a normative and subjective point of view. Italy – added Bartoli – is a country that is an exception when it comes to complaints made by representatives of the Government and Parliament against the press”.
The Fanpage investigation
“I don’t understand all this criticism about the Fanpage investigation. Undercover journalism is one of the foundations of our profession, it does have rules, but above all they protect the safety of journalists.”
Bartoli spoke like this at the end of the meeting in Pescara.
“I would like to remind you – he concluded – that if undercover journalism did not exist, the Watergate scandal would never have happened. We are only and exclusively interested in representing reality.”
