A Milan court has ruled that journalist Giuliano Cortese must pay Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni €5,000 ($5,465) in damages for a social media post that ridiculed her.
Additionally, Cortese received a suspended fine of €1,200 for a comment made on X in October 2021, which was deemed ‘body-shaming’ due to its focus on Meloni’s height.
The legal action was sparked by a social media altercation between the two women, during which Cortese shared a manipulated image of Meloni with a photo of Benito Mussolini in the background.
At the time, Meloni’s far-right Brothers of Italy party was in opposition.
Cortese responded with further tweets including one that translates as “You don’t scare me, Giorgia Meloni.
After all, you’re only 1.2 metres (4 feet) tall. I can’t even see you.”
It was said that Giorgia Meloni’s height is between 1.58m and 1.63m, Meanwhile, Giulia Cortese has the option to appeal the sentence, and Meloni’s lawyer has pledged that any damages awarded to the prime minister will be donated to charity.
It was gathered that there was a troubling trend in Italy, where a surge in lawsuits against journalists has led to a significant drop in the country’s press freedom ranking.
Italy now ranks 46th in the 2024 World Press Freedom Index, a five-point decline from 2023.
This development is particularly concerning given Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s history of taking journalists to court.
In 2023, author Roberto Saviano was fined €1,000 plus legal expenses for criticizing Meloni’s strict immigration policies on television in 2021.
Moreover, journalists at Italy’s public broadcaster RAI staged a strike in May to protest the government’s oppressive control over their work, signaling a growing discontent among the media community
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