Italian Journalist Fined for Insulting Meloni’s Height

A Milan court has ordered journalist Giulia Cortese to pay €5,000 in damages to Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni for an online insult about her height.

The judge determined that Cortese’s comments on X (formerly Twitter) were “defamatory” and constituted “body-shaming” of the Italian prime minister.

Cortese was also given a suspended fine of €1,200 and has the right to appeal the ruling.

The case stems from an incident in October 2021 when Cortese posted a doctored photo of Meloni with a picture of the late fascist leader Benito Mussolini in the background. Meloni, who was then in opposition, confronted Cortese online about the image. The journalist responded with a series of messages, one of which stated: “You don’t scare me, Giorgia Meloni. After all, you’re only 1.2 meters (4 feet) tall. I can’t even see you.”

In a Facebook post at the time, Meloni described the falsified photo as “of unique gravity” and stated that she had “already instructed my lawyer to take legal action against this despicable hoax.”

While the judge ultimately decided that the Mussolini post did not violate the law, the court ruled in Meloni’s favor regarding Cortese’s comments about her height.

According to media reports, the Italian prime minister’s height is between 1.58 and 1.63 meters.

On Thursday, Cortese commented on X, claiming that “Italy’s government has a serious problem with freedom of expression and journalistic dissent.”

This is not the first time Meloni has taken legal action against a journalist. Last October, a court in Rome fined anti-mafia reporter and author Roberto Saviano €1,000 plus legal expenses for insulting the right-wing politician over her hardline anti-immigration stance on a TV show in 2021.

In its 2024 World Press Freedom Index, Reporters Without Borders ranked Italy five points lower than the previous year, placing it at 46th. The organization cited a rising number of lawsuits against journalists as a contributing factor.

Last month, Vera Jourova, Vice-President of the EU Commission and commissioner in charge of values and transparency, expressed concern about “negative trends in the media in Italy.”