Italian journalist to pay €5,000 for mocking PM’s height

A Milan court has ordered a journalist to pay Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni damages of 5,000 euros ($5,465) for making fun of her in a social media post, news agency ANSA and other local media reported on Thursday.

The journalist, Giulia Cortese, was also given a suspended fine of 1,200 euros for a jibe on X in October 2021 about Meloni’s height that was defined as “bodyshaming”.

Meloni took legal action against Cortese after the two women clashed on social media.

Meloni, whose far-right Brothers of Italy party was in opposition at the time, took exception when Cortese published a mocked-up photo of her with a picture of the late fascist leader Benito Mussolini in the background.

Cortese responded with further tweets including one that translates as “You don’t scare me, Giorgia Meloni. After all, you’re only 1.2 metres (4 feet) tall. I can’t even see you.”

Meloni’s height is given as between 1.58 m and 1.63 m on various media websites.

Cortese can appeal against the sentence, and Meloni’s lawyer said the prime minister would donate to charity any damages she eventually receives.

A high number of lawsuits brought against journalists were cited this year by Reporters without Borders, which relegated Italy five places to 46th in its 2024 World Press Freedom Index.

Meloni is not new to taking journalists to court. In 2023, a Rome court fined best-selling author Roberto Saviano 1,000 euros plus legal expenses after he insulted her on television in 2021 over her hardline stance on illegal immigration.

Journalists at Italian state broadcaster RAI went on strike in May in protest against the suffocating control over their work by Meloni’s government.

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