Acts of Intimidation against Journalists – First Quarter 2023

The report was produced by the Department of Public Security under the Ministry of Interior and focuses on intimidation of journalists in the first quarter of 2023 in Italy. The report compares data regarding the first three months of 2023 and 2022. In the first three months of 2023, 28 cases of intimidation against journalists have been reported. The number decreased by 36% compared to the same period in 2022. In 2023, the sources of intimidation are mainly attributed to Criminal Organizations and sociopolitical circumstances (43% of recorded episodes), while in the same period in 2022, 55% of the registered cases had sociopolitical roots. These acts of intimidation target more men than women (21-to-5 ratio during the examined timespan in 2023 and 23-to-10 ratio in 2022). The trend of online intimidation has been consistent throughout the entire period of review, manifested with threatening emails and posts on Facebook (36% of total cases in 2023).

Geographically, the analysis of the report is particularly accurate. Lombardy, Latium, and Campania both in the first quarter of 2022 and in that of 2023 registered the highest number of intimidations. In the first three months of 2022, 44 acts of intimidation were committed in Italy: 56.8% of them took place in Lombardy, Latium, Campania, and Calabria. The provinces of Rome, Naples, and Milan registered the highest number of episodes. High-risk physical aggressions, verbal threats and damages took place in all Italian territory. However, high-risk online threats were mostly located in Latium. In the first three months of 2023, 28 acts of intimidation took place in Italy. Almost 80% of the threats to journalists’ safety happened in Lombardy, Latium, Campania, Apulia, and Emilia Romagna. The provinces of Milan, Rome, Naples, and Bologna registered the highest number of episodes. High-risk physical aggressions concerned Lombardy more than any other region. Most of the online threats took place in just two regions, Lombardy and Latium. High-risk damages and verbal threats are somehow evenly spread in the peninsula, although the issue has been more persistent in Calabria, Lombardy, and Campania.