Editorials
The failure of Milan’s newspapers. A year of sensationalist headlines on both the right and the left
The collapse of the investigation into Milan’s town planning has dealt a severe blow to the credibility of Italian journalism. From Corriere to Repubblica and right through to Domani. And right-wing newspapers are not spared either. A year ago, La Verità was calling for Beppe Sala’s resignation; now it reports the “halt to the investigation” on page 15.
The wreckage left by the collapse of the investigation into the ‘corrective vortex’ of Milan’s town planning has also swept away large swathes of credibility from Italian journalism. After all, this was a predictable outcome: when journalism is reduced to cashing in on even the most reckless investigations by the public prosecutor’s office, provided they merely stir up the reader. Within a single day, we have moved from recalling sensationalist headlines such as La Repubblica’s “Investigation into the Milan model” (note: not alleged crimes, but the “model” itself), or La Stampa’s “Bricks and rights: Milan trembles”, to several articles within the paper: “This is how the investigation crumbles”.
Il Corriere, which ran a full-page headline reading “Shocking investigation in Milan”, deserves credit for the space it has now devoted on its front page to “Urban planning: charges dropped”; it also does not hesitate to interview former public prosecutor Tiziana Siciliano, allowing her to state, “we had very solid evidence”. Even if it isn’t true. More extravagant is the choice made by a newspaper such as Il Domani, which, whilst having remained more cautious regarding the nature of the investigations, was far less so regarding the ideological framework of the ‘Milan case’, relegating the news of the request to dismiss the case to a small article at the bottom of page 10. At this point, one might be tempted to pay (dis)honourable tribute to Il Fatto and to Gianni Barbacetto’s consistency; after running headlines against Catella, ‘the king of property’, he is now forced to defend himself on page 8 with a stubborn ‘Bribes: the evidence is lacking’. At least they’re sticking to their guns.
The right-wing newspapers – those with their on-and-off commitment to due process – have fared much worse, and not by chance. A year ago, La Verità was calling for Beppe Sala’s resignation; now it has tucked the news of the ‘investigation being halted’ away in a small article on page 15. At least Libero – which, under Sechi’s editorship, used to attack ‘the posh grandchildren of the Communist Party’ – has changed its tune under Sallusti’s leadership, who yesterday lashed out at the judiciary for ‘making mistakes and never facing the consequences’. Il Giornale under Montanelli was better: after having banged the drum for the investigations, yesterday it buried the story on the front page. It preferred to focus on the “widespread bribery” in Campania. Upholding due process, as always.