The work of journalists is very important in every free society. And even more important for democracy is the work of those putting at risk their security and often their life to inform. They choose to inform challenging criminal powers and terrorist organization, or they tell us about far away wars and forgotten conflicts. That is why it is important for me to express my adherence - on the occasion of the World Press Freedom Day – to the initiative led by the Italian journalists organizations in memory of those reporters killed by the mafia and terrorist organization and to stress on the imporatance of the need to guarantee security for reporters. In many places of the world, in the course of my previous job for the UN agencies, I have witnessed the extraordinary importance and the sacrifices that this kind of information requires, and I share with all of you the worry for the faith of La Stampa correspondent Domenico Quirico. I met him on the job, a job often surrounded by war and destruction. I hope that family and friends will be able to hug him again. But I also want to hope that these facts will teach us to give more attention to that kind journalism ready to risk its life to let us know about the pains of the world or about the deep wounds caused in our country by the organized crime. It is an information not guided by the share, or one that tries to find a line that will inflame the political debate, but an information guided by truth and loyalty to the citizens. Often times this courageous information comes from young casual workers, willing to run risks in order to give us news that have a very high civil value but a very low economic compensation. I hope that the House of Representatives will give to this kind of information the necessary legal support. We owe it not only to a single category, but to the whole civil community and to its right to be informed.

Laura Boldrini

President of the Chamber of Deputies, on the occasion of the World Press Freedom Day