One hundred thousand copies sent to the pulp millin the night, for a unwelcome article – and replaced – on the Rome-Paris assets, including the role of the Italian government with Stellar. It is the classic straw that broke the camel’s back and that brought the Editorial Committee of the Republic to get male and female journalists to vote motion of no confidence towards the director Maurizio Molinari, with whom relations had deteriorated for some time. The economic insert of the newspaper, Business&Financewas supposed to come out this morning with an overture, signed by Giovanni Ponson the unbalanced ties between Italy and France on the subject of industrial policy. But during the night, when the newspaper had already been printed, the copies were destroyed and Pons’ piece replaced with that of the deputy director Walter Galbiati: the title, the bolt and part of the text change.
Now journalists will have until 10pm to say – through a secret vote – whether they intend to give their confidence to Molinari. The vote is not binding. Molinari it can remain even with mistrust of the editorial team. It happened, for example, in recent years, with Fabio Tamburini (2020) e Gianni Riotta (2011), both al Sole24Ore. The serious episode, for which the meeting with all the journalists was called in the early afternoon, comes after internal tensions over the case Expensivecost the newspaper a fool: during the Sanremo FestivalMolinari blocked (this time a second before printing) an interview with the artist Ghali – a sort of message of peace on the war in Gaza – because it did not contain any reference to Hamas. After the complaint of Done, the director essentially confirmed the censorship, explaining that the interview would be released as soon as Ghali provided an answer regarding Hamas. “A serious episode that undermines the credibility of the newspaper” the cdr had commented.
And now this new story, which once again highlights both the fracture between the editorial staff and the management there is a certain heavy hand on the part of the upper levels of the newspaper founded by Eugenio Scalfari, when it is necessary to intervene on unpleasant issues. At the center is Pons’ piece on industrial relations between Italy and France, entitled “High-voltage affairs on the Rome-Paris axis”, modified with “High-voltage affairs on the Rome-Paris front”. What changes the most is the bolt, the first version of which was “The STM, Tim cases and ArcelorMitta’s escape from Ilva reignite the controversy over the unbalanced relationship between Italy and France”. But you understand that the formula “the unbalanced relationship” to the management (or the publisher, John Elkann) didn’t like it. The new version: “The STM, Tim and Arcelor’s escape from Ilva cases reignite the controversy. They work when business drives.” In short, the gist is: leave a free hand to companies. And in fact, inside, an entire paragraph that talks about “rebalancing this relationship” disappears, in reference to the “predatory” role of Paris towards Italian companies, seen as “lands to be conquered”.
“The director has the power to decide what is or is not published in the newspaper he manages – write the journalists of Republic – but not to intervene at the conclusion of a research work, verification of the facts and comparison with the sources by a colleague, especially if agreed with the editorial team. In this way the autonomy of every single Repubblica journalist is undermined e sets a precedent which calls into question, for the future, the value of our work”. The assembly “considers it equally serious that the intervention led to blocking the printing of the newspaper, in particular because the management had already given the green light to publication. It is an indication of a lack of organization exposes it to uncontrolled arbitrariness everyone’s work.” Furthermore, “the waste of time and resources for reprinting is condemned, at a time when the editorial team with yet another early retirement plan is being called upon to make new sacrifices”. The assembly also points out “how the incident exposes Republic in a negative way in front of its external interlocutors, not least the fact that for a few hours the two openings of Business&Finance, before and after management intervention. What happened is the last episode of a series of glaring errors originating from management choices that put the collective work of Republic. The journalists of Republic they withdraw their signatures from the newspaper and the site for 24 hourssignatures mortified by the management’s intervention and to protect their professional dignity and independence”.
This is the latest setback for an editorial staff which in recent months has struggled to digest the management’s clearly pro-Israeli line, and which only in mid-December had decided five days of strike. With the cdr accusing Molinari and the owners of having distanced the editorial group from its own identity and culture, comparing the newspaper to “an abandoned sinking ship”. A few days ago, the editorial committee also sent the news agencies the story of Gedi’s demise, that is, since the group passed from De Benedetti family to the Elkann: from the transfers of the Tyrrhenian Sea, the Gazzetta di Modena, the Gazzetta di Reggio and the New Ferrara until the sale of theEspressoof the six newspapers in the North-East until, lastly, the agreement on the sale of the 19th century.
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2024-04-08 17:24:23
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