After the outbreak of controversy over the three journalists stopped by the police while they were on their way to cover the latest raid by the Ultima Generazione activists in Rome, the response from the Police Headquarters arrived. Who gave his version of events in a note, writing that “the subjects on site did not declare or demonstrate that they were journalists”. And adding that the journalists showed identity cards which were recorded in the service report. «At the same time – continues the Police Headquarters – in the area of Via Veneto where a littering was taking place, other members of the journalists’ association, after having shown their professional badge, continued to do their work regularly, without being subjected to any further control.”
The journalists’ version
A reconstruction that is at least jarring with what those directly involved instead did. Angela Nittoli, one of them, a Open he declared: «Something like this had never happened to me personally. I have been doing this job for twenty years and yes it has happened to me that, during an event, they ask me for my professional card. But once it was exhibited and the appropriate checks were made, I went back to covering the event.” Instead she and her colleagues were kept for an hour in a safe room, with the door open.
The note from the Department of Security
The Security Department also issued a note, in which it admits that, essentially, there is no directive for the media: «In Rome and in the rest of the national territory, an operational directive has never been given that provides for the identification of journalists and information operators at public events”. And again: «Single episodes that led to identification occurred in contexts where the qualification of journalist had not been declared or demonstrated. In any case, these are circumstances that cannot be traced back to new operating methods.”
A political case
The affair, in the meantime, has become a political issue. In fact, not only trade bodies, such as the Order of Journalists, the Fnsi union, the Roman Press Association and various editorial committees took sides to report the incident. The parliamentary opposition has already asked for clarity: “These episodes must not be underestimated in any way as they constitute alarm bells that risk compromising fundamental rights such as the right to information”, declared the dem Andrea Orlando. While Nicola Fratoianni speaks of «a behavior of the police forces that is now unsustainable», and Angelo Bonelli defines that of Piantedosi as «a Police State, similar to that of regimes». «Journalistic, documentation and filming work must always be guaranteed, respecting everyone’s safety conditions but ensuring the full exercise of freedom of the press», comments Senator Barbara Floridia, president of the Rai supervisory commission.
