Trade union press release
A review of the documents – for the time being, the order for the seizure of evidence – relating to the Naples Public Prosecutor’s Office’s investigation into the Multiversity affair raises, in our view, two distinct sets of issues: one specific and one general. The first concerns *Il Sole 24 Ore* directly: setting aside any potential criminal implications and the defence’s legitimate objections regarding the sequence of events, it highlights the susceptibility of the newspaper’s and the company’s senior management to mediation by shadowy figures with questionable motives.
Anyone representing a newspaper that describes itself as a leading authority in the worlds of finance, economics and law must remain extremely vigilant and absolutely unwilling to accept requests or succumb to undue pressure. At stake is the credibility of an entire editorial team, of an entire organisation whose core business, until proven otherwise, remains the provision of news. But to provide authoritative reporting, we need credible journalists supported by a company that safeguards their autonomy and independence, enabling them to investigate stories, understand the world around us and explain it. Conditions which, if absent, risk compromising the image – if not the substance – of an entire team in the eyes of its readers.
The broader issue is, of course, evident – and in some respects as old as journalism itself: the attempt by economic and financial powers to influence the news. The fragility of the financial position of most publishing groups has gradually left editorial teams increasingly exposed to external pressures, based on the volume of investment in various forms, ranging from advertising and marketing to training and events. Whether such pressures actually constitute criminal offences, however, remains to be proven.
Far more evident, however, is the constant assault on the independence of journalists, with commercial and advertising relationships that go beyond mere market transactions and serve ulterior motives – for example, a favourable bias that emphasises positive news whilst watering down or even omitting unfavourable reports altogether. That business leaders, managers and major public and private economic players feel justified in engaging in this sort of behaviour is disheartening, but it comes as no surprise. However, if journalism is to have a future, it must resist these pressures – regardless of any judicial investigations – and return to being a service for everyone, rather than a tool for the few. We owed this much to you, our readers, but above all to ourselves.
The CDR
