The Order of Journalists has turned 60 and the opportunities to remember its history and role in Italian information continue. Dozens of colleagues have been busy in recent weeks drawing attention to citizens' right to be informed, despite the terrible signs on sales.
Today at Pagani in the province of Salerno, the Assostampa of the Sarno Valley organized the debate on: “The value of the local press, through the ethics and deontology of journalism in a world revolutionized by communication-information. Two universes in contrast." The debate takes place as part of the Journalism Award Mimmo Castellano and offers insights for analysis starting from local information.
Castellano, who passed away in 2008, was an important Neapolitan journalist, for many years Deputy General Secretary of the National Press Federation and Vice President of the Campania Journalists' Association. The Assostampa Valle del Sarno with the president Salvatore Campitiello and colleagues this year have reached the XII edition of the Award named after “Mimmo”.
The alarming numbers of Italian journalism
The Award has thus become a cultural event, not only to remember the combative journalist but to debate topics and problems of one profession in full transformation. The negative signs come from every sector. THE52% of journalists Italians are registered with social security institutions. Print and online newspapers lose millions of copies and are read on an average day 1,49 million of copies. “In the first six months of 2022 - says theADS (Press Diffusion Investigations) were 1,60 million”. Free fall. The top four Italian newspapers – Corriere della Sera, Repubblica, Sole 24 Ore, Press - record drops in sales of up to 16%.
The "news market" is increasingly closer to apparatuses far from that honesty that Here Montanelli was the basis of journalistic work. The growing distance of millions of people from newspapers, news sites and TV is unfortunately also due to information drugged by scoops and sensationalism. Preparation and study are largely considered a waste of time compared to the speed of news. It cannot last long and the internal discussions for the Pagani meeting summarize these flaws.
One of the ways to get out of the fog is to tell the facts with care and competence, requirements that arouse curiosity in those who read, see or listen. Never take anything for grantedated, therefore. If the soles of your shoes no longer wear out, this tired repetition of journalism pass let's learn to distinguish fake news from real news, those that interest the public. He is always the master, to quote the legendary Indro again. And if he runs away, the reporters will be ruined.
Journalists under guard
The appointment for the debate in Pagani is at the Teatro S. Alfonso M. dei Liguori at 15,30 pm. Journalists, intellectuals and institutional representatives will be rewarded. Awards will also be given to 8 newspapers that have been active for over 40 years in Campania.
La function of the local press in a globalized world that travels at millions of bytes per second, it remains a cornerstone of information. It must be reevaluated and made more in line with the needs of citizens who identify with the daily story. Italy is aging with a population that is not very advanced in terms of information technology or artificial intelligence. Our colleagues will tell us how to last 40 years telling about places, facts and people, but even a website can and must capture the interest of "adult" readers who, coincidentally, have much more time to read.
Mimmo Castellano in his long career was a fighter. Whoever writes these notes has witnessed disruptive initiatives for the journalistic world of the 90s and 2000s. It has not been a vain effort, especially for young people who aspire to carry out this profession.
Proof of a serious, daily commitment in a region like Campania are the journalists under police escort for their work.
Le intimidation to those who try to tell things in their substance have never been lacking. There have been very serious episodes (the example of Giancarlo Siani ) and were fought. However, the intertwining of economic, social, political and illegal factors has put good information in the crosshairs of threats. Whether you write or investigate the environment, the illegal economy, landfills, state fraud, corruption.
Journalists don't stop and go in search of excellence and legality. This is why today's debate promises to be intriguing for anyone who cares about the fate of good information and of journalists "witnesses to the truth", as the President of the Republic, Sergio Mattarella.
Speakers at Pagani include, among others, the treasurer of the Council of the Journalists' Association, Gabriele Dossena, the president of the Order of Journalists of Campania, Ottavio Lucarelli, the president of the Unitary Movement of Journalists, Mimmo Falco. Voices from a difficult front, but full of enthusiasm. Without which journalism simply does not exist.
