Ever heard of Walter Tobagi? Nope. Not a surprise, neither had I until today. It is the anniversary of his death today, poor chap.
Way back in 1980 on this very day Tobagi, who was a senior journalist working for the Corriere della Sera newspaper, was gunned down here in Milan by the then active Red Brigades. His perceived crime? He dared to criticise the wave of terrorism which was sweeping through Italy at that time.
In some ways, you can understand why journalists do not now always write as much and as in depth as they would like here. Being forthright can cost you your life.
Be free with your speech, but do not take liberties.
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I now live on the street where he was gunned down. Just moved to Italy so didn’t understand the signs telling me that the street will be closed off tomorrow morning for a service in memorium. Am about to Wiki him to find out exactly what happened!
Hi Claire,
If you do manage to understand why exactly Tobagi was gunned down, you’ll be doing very well – as from what I can gather, it’s not clear.
He was apparently killed by the Red Brigades, which seems odd, in that Tobagi did a lot to try and help people understand what was behind Italy’s problems during the infamous ‘lead years’ period. Then again, maybe he was getting too close to the truth, whatever that may be, and was taken out because of this. Tobagi seems to have been labeled as being anti-communist.
Journalists are an easy target, and killing them puts others off sniffing around. His killing could have been a message. There seem to be unanswered questions with regard to his murder, such as why the terrorists had detailed inside knowledge.
Being an investigative journalist in Italy is a dangerous business – just ask Roberto Saviano, who wrote about the camorra mafia – he’s under 24 hour guard. Others have been killed for getting too close to the truth too. One problem is that a journalist may unwittingly get too close to something, and end up dead to keep him or her from embarrassing powerful people. Perhaps this is what Tobagi did, and it is what Saviano has done.
Italy is a complex country and you can tread on toes without being aware of it. Don’t let this worry you though – normal people have little to fear. But if you are a journalist, or a blogger – you need to be a little careful (I know of one journalist who was thinking about getting a gun for protection).
Best,
Alex