Italy’s mafia intimidate 3 journalists every 2 days – Report

No fewer than 2,060 journalists were harassed and threatened by mafia groups in Italy between 2006 and Oct. 31, 2014, a report has said.

An official statement on Thursday said that the report had been approved by Parliamentary Anti-Mafia Committee on “Mafia, Journalists and Media World’’.

The statement by the committee said that the figure showed a steady increase ‘’to a peak in the first 10 months of 2014’’, with 421 acts of violence or intimidation against journalists, indicating three cases in every two days.

The committee said that over 80 pages packed with figures, testimonials and often little known incidents, also condemned the

‘’substantial impunity” enjoyed by criminals for certain behaviours.

“There are very few incidents in which the perpetrators of violence or threats have been identified, tried and convicted,’’ it said.

It added that besides the most direct and often brutal methods, there was an increasing recourse to unscrupulous and intimidating use of certain instruments of the law in the cases.

The report said that above lawsuits and civil actions for damages, the aim of the cases was to induce the journalist to “behave and write with more respect.’’

It said that many of the journalists had faced devastating intimidation, including bullets by post, burnt cars and verbal threats.

The report indicated that some journalists admitted that they worked for a few Euros per article, and often without a contract, and with publishers rarely willing to give more than “the token appearance of solidarity’’.

It, however, said that the good news was the determination of a new generation of journalists, who believed that the ethical function of their profession should not be debased by sometimes, humiliating working conditions or risks.

It said “the few known journalists, self-effacing, generous, and determined to carry out their daily work are worthy heirs of the 11 killed in Italy, nine by mafia groups’’.