Italian freelance journalists protest against working conditions

While evidence presented to Leveson is making journalists even less popular in Britain - if that were possible - it is hard to read this dispatch from Italy by Alessia Cerantola without feeling that there are journalists who deserve sympathy rather than public contempt:

Before hanging himself from a tree in the garden of his house in Puglia, Pierpaolo Faggiano revealed in a letter that it was his precarious working conditions that drove him to suicide.

For decades the 41-year-old Italian journalist had been a regular contributor to a local newspaper, barely eking out 4 to 20 euros per article.

Following Faggiano's suicide, many journalists started blaming the Italian media environment for protecting only a small number of regularly paid employees while forcing others to survive on meagre incomes.

The incident unleashed a wave of protests among Italian journalists and bloggers, on online platforms and in street demonstrations, demanding better labour conditions.

They pointed the finger at the increasing number of media organisations that use underpaid freelancers as regular contributors. The protests also drew attention to the old-fashioned and gerontocratic Italian media and blamed it for undermining high-quality journalism through the wide practice of nepotism in the recruiting process of journalists.

"In the last year or two, there has been a growing awareness of the illegal working conditions that oppress journalists," said 31-year-old freelance reporter Maria Raffaella Cosentino.

Cosentino was in the Calabrian town of Rosarno, and later in Castel Volturno, near Naples, during the violent clashes between immigrant day-labourers and residents in January and February 2010. She says she realised then that many local and national TV and print journalists covering the event were paid less than the 50 euros per day that the fruit and vegetable pickers were demanding from landowners.

Cosentino decided to write an e-book on the topic and to launch a campaign, "Non lavoro per meno di cinquanta euro", calling on journalists to turn down assignments which pay less than 50 euros per article.

According to a 2010 national survey, many print or online newspapers pay as low as 2 euros, and an average of 20 euros, for articles of varying length.

The situation is no different at television stations, where a number of local journalists earn a wage of 12 euros for shooting, editing, writing and doing the voiceover for a story.

"[Italian journalism] is too awkward, past-oriented and absurdly self-referential. It doesn't just report on the country's state of affairs, it is a complete part of them," former Reuters reporter Roberto Bonzio said in an interview.

According to official rules, aspiring journalists have two options in order to obtain a professional writing licence from the Italian Order of Journalists (ODG), the state-approved organisation which regulates Italian journalism.

The first option is to undergo 18 months training at a media outlet or to enroll in one of the 16 journalism schools recognised by the ODG, and to pass a national final exam to become a full-time professional.

The second option is to become a part-time 'publicist'. In this case, they need to prove that they have carried out a two-year paid journalistic activity and produced 60 to 80 articles.

But a writer's licence does not guarantee a job as a journalist.

In addition to this distinction, says Robert Bonzio, Italian journalists can be divided into two categories: the elite who benefit from a standard journalistic contract, and all the rest. The latter, "most of whom are full-time journalists working without any form of protection, are forced to endue their editors' blackmails and whims".

In a country where the average annual salary in 2009 amounted to about 16,000 euros, according to OECD figures, an LSDI webzine survey revealed that over 55% of Italian freelancers and nearly 50% of 'precari' (freelance) journalists earn less than 5,000 euros per year. Only about 19% of journalists are permanent full-time employees.

When the issue was brought to parliament, Italian MPs condemned the exploitation of media workers and called on editors to apply respectable payments.

They also expressed concern over the fact that underpaid journalists are more liable to be blackmailed.

Parliament's culture committee on 26 October approved a bill affirming the right of journalists to receive an "adequate payment". But the act is just at the beginning stage of the legislative process. When and if it is finally approved, it will provide a framework against journalists' exploitation.

"Our goal is not to undermine the working conditions of our full-time colleagues, but we are asking for an adequate compensation for the others," says Nicola Chiarini from the freelancers association in Veneto. "A precarious journalism means a precarious democracy."

This blog is a shortened and edited version of a feature from the European Journalism Centre, used with kind permission.

Alessia Cerantola is a Venice native who currently works as a multimedia freelancer covering social, political and economic issues, from Italy, Japan and South Korea, for Italian national magazines, newspapers and the online magazine of the European Journalism Centre. She continues to blog regularly about the Far East.