Nunziati, who followed the work of the EU as a correspondent from Brussels, was fired just a month after he started working in that position, writes The Intercept.
At the European Commission’s daily press conference on October 13, Nunziati asked chief spokeswoman Paula Pinho a question. “You have repeated several times that Russia should pay for the reconstruction of Ukraine,” Nunziati said. “Do you believe that Israel should pay for the reconstruction of Gaza since it destroyed almost all of its civilian infrastructure?”
Pinho briefly replied that it was “definitely an interesting question, on which I would have no comment.”
The video quickly spread on social networks, which is rare for European Commission conferences.
“It was republished by many media outlets and became really important,” Nunziati said. “I’ve even had people contact me and say, ‘I saw you on Instagram!’ Two weeks later – on October 27th – I received an email from my news agency telling me that they intended to end our collaboration.”
Nova agency spokesman Francesco Civita confirmed that cooperation with Nunziati was terminated due to his question about Gaza. Civita said the journalist was fired for asking a “technically incorrect” question, claiming that Russia had attacked a sovereign country for no reason, while Israel was responding to the attack.
According to Civita, Nunziati was “repeatedly explained” the difference between the positions of Russia and Israel, “but he completely failed to understand the essential and formal difference in the situations.”
“Indeed, he insisted that the question was correct, showing his ignorance of the fundamental principles of international law,” Civita said.
“Worse, the video related to his question was downloaded and reposted by Russian nationalist Telegram channels and media linked to political Islam with an anti-European agenda, causing embarrassment to the agency.”
Nunziati confirmed that he received two “tense” phone calls from superiors in the two weeks between the questioning and the dismissal, but declined to comment further.
The decision to dismiss was condemned by Anna Laura Orrico, a member of the Italian Parliament from the Five Star Movement. “If the story corresponds to the facts, it would be simply shameful for the media to make such a decision,” she told an Italian newspaper.
Another Nova journalist, who spoke on condition of anonymity to protect his job, told The Intercept that Nunziati’s case is “the tip of the iceberg of the Italian censorship journalists are subjected to” when it comes to reporting on Israel.
“Gabriele was fired because he asked an embarrassing question to the European Commission,” the journalist said. “In the days that followed, the atmosphere was very tense.” He added that after Nunziati’s dismissal, “all journalists in the newsroom fell silent.”
The case comes in a context where several Western journalists have lost their jobs for asking tough questions or making critical comments about Israel’s war in Gaza. According to the Committee to Protect Journalists, more than 240 journalists were killed in Gaza, dozens were injured, and Israel imprisoned almost 100 of them.
(Vijesti.ba)
