The limits of freedom of the press and investigative journalism COURT OF CRIMINAL
V Cassation Judgement of 27 October 2010 - February 1, 2011, No 3674 "
that exercise is part of freedom of the press to report acts of judicial investigations and proceedings by the State censors coming, but not allowed to carry out reconstruction, analysis, evaluations tend to precede and complement activities of police and judiciary, regardless of the results of these activities. And 'therefore in striking contrary to the right and duty to tell the facts already occurred, without indulging in narratives and assessments "for future reference, the work of the journalist who confuse news about events that occurred on prognosis and future events. In doing so, he, independently, suggests and anticipates the evolution and outcome of investigations into key culprits, compared with no beginning and no official investigation concluded, without being able to demonstrate the reliability of these surveys and the private correspondence to the historical truth of their outcome. It offers citizens a process agarantista, before which the citizen concerned, as the only guarantee of protection, the lawsuit for defamation.
journalist has included statements della fonte conoscitiva con altri dati di riscontro, realizzando la funzione investigativa e valutativa rimessa all'esclusiva competenza dell'autorità giudiziaria. E' quindi pienamente conforme alle risultanze processuali e a una loro razionale valutazione la conclusione della corte di merito, secondo cui il testo pubblicato non può ritenersi un'asettica riproduzione di dichiarazioni - a prescindere della loro riservatezza - del Ra., ma un articolato discorso che, comprendendo altri dati storici, tende inequivocabilmente a sostenere la verità del contenuto di queste, a fronte di indagini in corso proprio per l'accertamento di questa verità.
A ciascuno il suo: agli inquirenti il compito di effettuare gli accertamenti, ai giudici the task to determine the truth, the task of the journalist give notice, in the exercise of the right to inform, but not to influence the community.
The absence of truth of the facts narrated - funding from the ascendant mafia manager of information and entertainment television-smear involves the apparent charge of the narrative and the total absence of evidence to the proper exercise of judicial reporting. The appeal is therefore dismissed. "
Supreme Court
CRIMINAL SECTION V
Judgement of 27 October 2010 - February 1, 2011, No. 3674
Conduct of case
With sentence 21/09/2009, the Court of Appeal of Rome, by way of a court ruling S.5.06 the same branch, said not having to take legal action against RTC for the death of the accused, confirmed, in respect of GHP, the declaration of extinction for prescription libel damage in BS. GH defender has lodged an appeal for the following reasons:
1. violation of the law with reference to Article. Cpp 129, paragraph 2, for failure to recognize the outcome of freedom of the press. The Court of Appeal has recognized the merits of the defense argument, that the correspondence between what is narrated (the statements of the collaborator with justice, the financier Ra.) And what happened does not affect the fact that such statements were contained in an official report secret. He also acknowledged that the check on the veracity of the news should not extend to the veracity of the above from the collaborator with justice, but only to the correspondence between the content and the text of the article. From this premise did not draw the logical conclusion on the evidence of proof that the disputed fact is not a crime, for exonerating the exercise of freedom of the press. He however noted that considerations were contained in other statements taken from other entities involved in the investigation into alleged funding of the mafia group Fininvest. These additional considerations appear to enhance the credibility of direct del dichiarante, realizzando la funzione di riscontro,che deve essere rimessa all'esclusiva competenza dell'autorità giudiziaria. Secondo il ricorrente, questo ragionamento è auto-contraddittorio: il diritto di cronaca si esercita anche informando i lettori che, nell'ambito della medesima inchiesta, vi sono altre dichiarazioni che sono da mettere in relazione con la prima già riportata. Posto che queste altre dichiarazioni sono state fedelmente riportate, la prova della verità dei fatti deve considerarsi evidente,di qui l'evidenza della causa di giustificazione, così come prescrive l'art. 129 c.p.p., comma 2. 2. vizio di motivazione : la corte non ha spiegato le ragioni per cui riportare fedelmente le dichiarazioni di Ra. costituisce exercise of freedom of the press and instead faithfully report or other statements reporting the contents of other documents (listed in detail and filed in this case) precludes the configurability of the justifications, at least in terms of "evidence".
The illogical reasoning is also apparent from the lack of feedback on individual passages from the article and there is no indication of any of the profiles of his defamatory statements. Reasons for Decision
appeal shall not be accepted.
The extenuating circumstance is invoked in this process are carrying the right to inform the public on the progress of investigations giudiziali a carico di altri consociati, cioè il diritto di cronaca giudiziaria. E' interesse dei cittadini essere informati su eventuali violazioni di norme penale e civili, conoscere e controllare l'andamento degli accertamenti e la reazione degli organi dello stato dinanzi all'illegalità, onde potere effettuare consapevoli valutazioni sullo stato delle istituzioni e sul livello di legalità caratterizzante governanti e governati, in un determinato momento storico.
Secondo un condivisibile orientamento interpretativo, il diritto di cronaca giornalistica, giudiziaria o di altra natura, rientra nella più vasta categoria dei diritti pubblici soggettivi, relativi alla libertà di pensiero e al diritto dei cittadini di essere informati, so that they can make informed choices in the context of social life. And 'the right of society to receive information about who has been involved in any criminal or civil, especially if the players have positions in social, political or judicial. Slope of criminal investigations and court findings against a citizen, they can not be granted the right to protect its reputation when the limits of freedom of the press are respected, the lesion loses its character as antigiuridicità.
should however be noted that the reputation of the person involved in criminal investigations and is not protected with respect to statements of facts and expression of critical opinions, as long as they are in connection with the operation of the process. That falls in the exercise of freedom of the press to report acts of judicial investigations and proceedings by the State censors coming, but not allowed to carry out reconstruction, analysis, evaluations tend to precede and complement activities of law enforcement officers, regardless of the results of these activities. E 'therefore in stark contrast to the right and duty to tell the facts already occurred, without indulging in narratives and assessments "for future reference, the work of the journalist who confuse news about events that occurred on prognosis and future events. In doing so, he, independently, sets and anticipates the evolution and outcome of investigations into key culprits, compared with no beginning and no official investigation concluded, without being able to demonstrate the reliability of these investigations and private correspondence to the historical truth of their outcome. It offers citizens a process agarantista, before which the citizen concerned, as the only guarantee of protection, the lawsuit for defamation.
E 'therefore fully agree with the decision of the contested decision, where, in this case, exclude the evidence of the proper exercise of freedom of the press, institutionally recognized for information of events have already happened: a journalist has included the statements of the source with other cognitive hard evidence, making the investigation and evaluation function called the exclusive jurisdiction of the court. E 'therefore fully consistent with the findings of the proceedings and their rational evaluation, the conclusion of the court on the merits, that the published text can not be considered an aseptic reproduction of statements - regardless of their privacy - Ra., But an articulate speech , including other historical data, tends to support unequivocally the truth of the contents of these, compared with their ongoing investigations to ascertain the truth.
To each his own: the investigators responsible for carrying out the investigations, the courts the task of verifying the correctness, al giornalista il compito di darne notizia, nell'esercizio del diritto di informare, ma non di suggestionare, la collettività.
L'assenza di verità dei fatti narrati - finanziamenti di provenienza mafiosa all'ascendente manager dell'informazione e del trattenimento televisivi- comporta l'evidente carica diffamatoria della narrazione e la totale assenza di evidenza del corretto esercizio del diritto di cronaca giudiziaria. Il ricorso va quindi rigettato con condanna del ricorrente al pagamento delle spese processuali e alla rifusione delle spese sostenute dalla parte civile, liquidate in complessivi Euro 1.200,00, oltre accessori come per legge.
P.Q.M.
Rigetta il ricorso e condanna il ricorrente al pagamento of court costs and to pay the costs incurred by the plaintiff in a position, paid by a total of € 1200.00, as well as accessories for the law.
