Ossigeno per l’Informazione has placed the names and faces of Italian journalists killed because of their work on a large wall panel. The montage is framed by the words “They sought the truth, 30 names, a single story”. Scrolling through the faces of the 30 journalists depicted, one ideally glimpses the events of an Italy marked by terrorism, from the fight against the Mafia and the Camorra crime syndicates, from the cross-border wars in Europe and elsewhere of the 90s, to the most recent conflicts in the Middle East.
The photographs are those of the nine journalists killed by the Mafia, of the two killed by terrorists and of the 19 killed during missions abroad in war zones. The panel was created on May 3rd, on the occasion of the World Press Freedom Day announced by UNESCO in 1997 and celebrated each year in Rome by Ossigeno per l’Informazione. Since 2016 the Memorial Panel has been delivered to the most important Italian institutions, schools, universities, local authorities and trade unions. In 2020, to the 28 faces and 28 names already present, were added those of Fabio Polenghi, a photographer killed in Bangkok during a clash between the army and anti-government demonstrators and that of Marcello Palmisano, a journalist with the state broadcaster RAI who died in Mogadishu.
The Panel aims to keep alive, in the simplest and most expressive way, the memory of the killed journalists and their sacrifice. It also aims to convince people that freedom of the press and information are a public good, in the interest of citizens and that, precisely for this reason, they have powerful enemies who try to bend them, unscrupulously, using violence even going so far as to take the life of those who convey information of public interest that disturb the powerful.
WHO HAS RECEIVED IT
It has already been delivered among others to:
the President of the Italian Republic Sergio Mattarella, the then President of the Italian Senate Pietro Grasso, the then President of the Chamber Laura Boldrini, the European Commission, the General Secretary of the European Federation of Journalists, Ricardo Gutierrez, the Superior Council of the Italian Judiciary, the Attorney General of the Italian Supreme Court, Giovanni Salvi , the Anti-Mafia Commission of the Lazio Region, to the National Federation of the Italian Press (FNSI), the National Order of Journalists, the Rome Press Association, the Press Association of Cosenza, city mayors including the mayor of Rome Virginia Raggi, twenty schools in Rome , institutes and universities in Rome and beyond and to numerous other associations and institutions.
HOW TO REQUEST IT
Ossigeno, particularly attached to this Panel, has launched a campaign to promote remembrance and offers the Memorial Panel free of charge to all those who request it, organizing – on the occasion of its consignment – a short ceremony: a brief moment to reflect on the importance of press freedom and the difficulties of journalism and journalists in Italy. Knowing in order not to repeat the mistakes of the past is the objective that Ossigeno aims to consolidate especially among the younger generations, through recounting the stories of these media workers who have lost their lives for the defence of a common right.
If you are interested in receiving the Memory Panel and arranging the handover ceremony, please send an email to direzioneossigeno@gmail.com