Meloni condemns car bomb attack on Italian journalist

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni on Friday denounced an attack on investigative journalist Sigfrido Ranucci after an explosive device detonated under his car outside his home late Thursday.

No one was injured in the blast, which damaged a second family vehicle and a neighboring house in Pomezia, a municipality south of Rome. Anti-mafia prosecutors have opened an investigation, ANSA reported.

“I express my full solidarity with the journalist Sigfrido Ranucci and the strongest condemnation for the serious act of intimidation he has suffered,” Meloni said in a statement. “The freedom and independence of information are non-negotiable values of our democracies, which we will continue to defend.”

Ranucci and the Meloni government have a tense relationship.

Report, the show he hosts, has repeatedly investigated government figures, including a probe into the alleged role of officials in the attempted takeover of Mediobanca by Monte dei Paschi di Siena, which led Meloni’s Head of Cabinet Gaetano Caputi to pursue leagal action in July against the program.

In recent years, Ranucci has faced multiple lawsuits from members of Meloni’s government, the Senate President Ignazio La Russa, Finance Minister Giancarlo Giorgetti and prominent political families, including the Berlusconis.

Other members of Meloni’s government also expressed solidarity with Ranucci.

Defense Minister Guido Crosetto called the attack “extremely serious, cowardly and unacceptable,” while Interior Minister Matteo Piantedosi pledged full police support to identify the perpetrators and strengthen the journalist’s protection.

Ranucci has lived under police guard for years after he and his newsroom received threats due to their reporting on politicians, business leaders and other public figures but also mafia networks and corruption cases tied to organized crime. Earlier this week, he was acquitted in a defamation case stemming from one of Report’s investigations.

Since taking office in 2022, Meloni has faced criticism for actions perceived as undermining press freedom, including legal threats against journalists and censorship attempts, raising concerns among watchdog organizations and European institutions about the state of media independence in Italy.