Journalists at Italy’s L’Espresso magazine strike over cuts

Journalists from Italy’s L’Espresso magazine took strike action Tuesday 20 and Wednesday 21 November against a ‘heavy programme of cuts’ and to ‘protect the heritage of one of the leading titles in Italy for its history, prestige and quality.’ They criticised planned editorial staffing cuts – 12 out of a total of 40 journalists – saying it would ‘jeopardize’ editorial content. The job cuts come despite a profit in 2012 for Carlo De Benedetti’s media group that owns the weekly magazine. L’Espresso has a long reputation of investigative journalism, breaking, from its early days in the 1950s, stories about corruption and clientelism by the then ruling Christian Democrats. Another eight days of strikes are planned. Sources: Wall Street Italia /L’Espresso