The message of support from the President of the Chamber of Deputies to the Forum of Women Journalists of the Mediterranean and the international network of women created with it
Dear friends,
I cannot attend in person, but I would like to convey my full support for the second Mediterranean Women Journalists Forum.
The shocking end of Daphne Caruana Galizia, the courageous Maltese reporter to whom you dedicate your work, sadly tells with painful clarity how high the risks are, even in a European Union state, for those who report on criminal organizations and the intermingling of mafias and politics. A front on which many women are also engaged in our country: young women journalists, often precarious, who with extraordinary civic sense know how to be a thorn in the side for the clans.
But this network of yours is also important for the input it provides to colleagues at work in countries on the southern coast of the Mediterranean or in the Middle East, struggling with wars, conflicts, fanaticism. Solidarity among women journalists can raise a more effective embankment against that specific form of violence against women newsmakers.
Investigative journalism performs a valuable function that no technological revolution can undermine or make irrelevant. I hope that this part of the legislative term will see Parliament finally able to bring in measures against so-called ‘reckless lawsuits.’ They have been waiting for them for years, not only reporters and columnists, but also all citizens who care about legality.
Laura Boldrini
