Press freedom under threat: Journalists in Italy face intimidation from mafias

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00:00He never goes to meetings on his own.

00:02Every time he moves, he is accompanied by several plainclothes police officers.

00:07As a journalist, threatened by the mafia, Lirio Abati has been living under police

00:12protection for 17 years. His daily life is one of limitations and lack of freedom.

00:21It's a very controlled life with very little freedom. It's been years since I've been to the

00:26beach. I have to avoid anything that is spontaneous or improvised, like taking a

00:31plane or a train without pre-planning. And I avoid crowded places.

00:37Due to his investigations, Lirio has been targeted by Cosa Nostra,

00:41the Sicilian mafia, but also by the Calabrian Endrangheta and extreme right-wing groups.

00:48Several attack plans against me have been uncovered during investigations into the mafia.

00:53One time, they placed a bomb under a car in front of my house.

00:58The mafia see investigative journalists as bad cops, so to speak.

01:02Someone who's delving into other people's business, who's going beyond what a journalist

01:06should do and should therefore be punished. So you become a target.

01:11Since 1960, 30 Italian journalists have been killed whilst doing their job. One of them was

01:17Alberto Spampinato's brother. He has set up an organisation to monitor threats against journalists.

01:24Since 2006, we have recorded more than 7,000 acts of hostility and threats

01:31towards journalists. We have also recorded more than 10,000 attacks against journalists.

01:39In addition to physical threats, there are also acts of legal intimidation,

01:47more pernicious. Attilio Bolzoni has had to face dozens of defamation cases.

01:54I've always won these cases. But for independent journalists who don't have the support of a big

02:00news organisation with a legal support team, it's a big risk. And so they hesitate before writing

02:06the story. And often they will submit to self-censorship because they can't afford potential

02:11legal fees. Since last January, 203 acts of intimidation against journalists have been

02:17recorded in the country, proof that there is still a long way to go to achieve press freedom in Italy.

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