Italy. Football club demands €50,000 damages within 3 days from a journalist

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To be paid within 3 days for he reported that there had been a stormy phone call between the president of the soccer company and the coach of the team

OSSIGENO November 28^th 2024 – On October 22^nd 2024, journalist Gabriele Majo received an arbitrary request from the lawyers of the soccer company “Parma Calcio 1913” for 50,000 euro in damage compensation to be paid to the company within three days. The payment was requested by email in relation to an article allegedly defamatory (read here) in which Majo reported on a turbulent  phone call between the owner of the football club and the team’s coach.

The disputed article had been published a week earlier, on October 14^th, in the online newspaper Stadiotardini.it, of which Gabriele Majo is the publisher and editor-in-chief. “Parma Calcio 1913”, in addition to damages, asked also for its immediate removal along with other related articles.

The journalist rejected the request, declaring that he had operated in full compliance with professional ethics, that is, by verifying the information gathered  with reliable sources, and entrusted his lawyer with the task of contesting the charges that are now the subject of legal proceedings.

While waiting for clarification, Gabriele Majo has, to protect himself, decided not to write or sign other articles on the activities  of Parma Calcio. Following this compensation  demand , he has obtained expressions of solidarity from the Order, the union of Journalists of Emilia-Romagna, of  Gergs (Emilio Romagna sports journalists group) and of many other colleagues.

THE SOLIDARITY OF OSSIGENO– The out of court demand for compensation made to a journalist, even before he can justify himself and possibly admit his responsibilities, constitutes excessively aggressive behaviour, especially if the request assesses the damages as fifty thousand euro to be paid within a particularly short arbitrary deadline. This attitude is  capable of discouraging that journalist from continuing his work as a reporter and from the commitment to informing the public about news of public interest. 

Therefore Ossigeno per l’Informazione not only expresses solidarity with Gabriele Majo but the Legal Aid  Desk of Ossigeno also declares its willingness to contribute to his legal expenses. 

WHO IS HE? – Gabriele Majo, 60 years old, is a very well-known and appreciated professional journalist in Emilia-Romagna in the sports reporting sector. He is currently the owner and chief editor of the online newspaper Stadiotardini.it which deals with football and in particular with the team from the city of Parma, whose saga he has covered for much of his career. He has collaborated with several local radio stations, with Radio Capital, Mediaset, with the newspaper Tuttosport and other publications.

From 2004 to 2009, he was responsible for the press and communications office of Parma F.C., a football club that later went bankrupt. From 2015 to December 2023 (when he was relieved of his duties), he first managed the general press office and then the youth and women’s sector press office of the new “Parma Calcio 1913” club which took the team from Serie D to Serie A. The ownership passed to the American Krause group in September 2020.

THE DISPUTED  ARTICLE – “That tumultuous night in Naples between KK and Pecchia because of Cyprien”. With this title, Majo published on October 14^th  2024, the article that was disputed, along with others, by the lawyers of “Parma Calcio 1913”. The article recounts that on the evening of August 30^th in Naples there was a very heated phone call between the President of Parma Calcio, Kyle Krause, and the coach Fabio Pecchia. They discussed the fielding  of the player  Wilan Cyprien (who had been widely used up until that day but was then dropped ) for the match that Parma was supposed to play against Napoli.

PARMA CALCIO’S LAWYERS alleged falsity in what Gabriele Majo wrote about the phone call and the contentious conversation which had been interpreted by others, but not by Gabriele Majo, as the prelude to a possible dismissal of the coach. The journalist was accused of destabilizing the management of the technical side of the team on the eve of a delicate match, whereas  in that article, in the previous ones and in the following ones Majo had always urged the company to renew the coach’s  contract which was, in fact, subsequently extended just a few days after the publication of the article by Gabriele Majo on Stadiotardini.it.

HOW MAJO DEFENDS HIMSELF – “My former sporting director Oreste Cinquini and others – Gabriele Majo told Ossigeno – reminded me of this old popular adage: ‘do no harm, have no fear’. His message reached me along with many other expressions of solidarity, after Parma Calcio 1913 ordered me to pay them 50,000 euro as compensation for damages. I have done no harm, whatever my adversary thinks. But how can I ‘have no fear’, with this sword of Damocles hanging over my head? Fifty thousand euro is an enormous sum for an impoverished unemployed journalist who throughout his life has been careful to devote himself passionately to his work, giving his all, and not  enriching himself. It is an exaggerated amount to think of  extorting from a journalist for having reported in good faith an incident that, after the necessary checks, he could actually confirm, not a fruit of his own perverse imagination, which is what he is accused of. What would be my motive? According to the fanciful  hypothesis  of those who had initiated the action, it would be to have wanted to destabilize the technical guidance of the coach on the eve of a delicate match. Unfortunately, however, that in the article that they wanted to be removed, there was written, as in all the previous and subsequent ones, an encouragement to extend the expiring contract of the coach, whose dismissal I have never suggested. I am the owner and chief editor of a small online newspaper. To defend myself from these accusations I am forced to spend sums extraordinary relative to my financial possibilities whilst  those who have warned me can count on enormous economic power. It is not a level playing field. To protect myself, I have decided to withdraw, to suspend myself as they say, to give up writing and signing other articles. With my resounding silence I hope to make it clear that theirs is not the right way to engage. Surrounding a reporter through excessive recourse to legal procedures is not the right path to take. If anything, in this way a free voice is silenced; in this way pluralism and the right to express oneself guaranteed, in Italy, by Article 21 of the Constitution are destroyed. What I am asking for is to be able to continue working without being intimidated or inhibited  by those who have more resources than me to spend on legal challenges, by those who choose this route  instead of establishing a normal and civil dialogue, which is always possible while respecting different positions”. LT