An attack with explosives destroyed the vehicle of a prominent Italian journalist overnight, without causing casualties.
Sigfrido Ranucci’s investigative television news show announced on Friday, October 17th, that its main investigator’s car was wrecked in an explosion in Pomezia, near Rome. The blast also damaged the family’s other car and the house next door, according to Report, which broadcasts on RAI public television.
A statement posted on X said
The force of the explosion was so strong that it could have killed anyone passing by at the moment.
Interior Minister Matteo Piantedosi said he had ordered an increase in the journalist’s security “to the maximum.” He called the attack a “cowardly and extremely serious act that represents an attack not only on the person but on the freedom of the press and the fundamental values of our democracy”.
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni strongly condemned what she called a “serious act” of intimidation:
The freedom and independence of information are non-negotiable values of our democracies, which we will continue to defend.
Campaign group Reporters Without Borders ranks Italy 49th in the world for press freedom. “Journalists who investigate organised crime and corruption are systematically threatened and sometimes subjected to physical violence for their investigative work,” it said in its latest update, with about 20 journalists currently living under permanent police protection after being the targets of intimidation and attacks.
