Article informationAuthor, Christy CooneyRole, BBC News9 hours agoAn Italian journalist has been ordered to pay High Minister Giorgia Meloni damages of €5,000 (£4,210) over social media posts making a laugh of her top. A pass judgement on dominated that two tweets by means of Giulia Cortese, who used to be additionally passed a suspended fantastic of €1,200, had been defamatory and amounted to “frame shaming”. It adopted an change wherein Ms Cortese described Ms Meloni as a “little lady” and informed her: “I will’t even see you.”Reacting to the decision, Ms Cortese stated the Italian govt had a “major problem with freedom of expression and journalistic dissent”.The pair first clashed in October 2021, when Ms Meloni’s far-right Brothers of Italy celebration used to be nonetheless in opposition, after Ms Cortese posted a mocked-up symbol of Ms Meloni on X, previously Twitter. Ms Meloni used to be noticed within the symbol status in entrance of a bookshelf directly to which a framed picture of fascist dictator Benito Mussolini were artificially added. In a submit on Fb, Ms Meloni stated the picture used to be of “distinctive gravity” and that she could be taking criminal motion. Later the similar day, Mr Cortese stated she had deleted the picture after realising it used to be pretend, however accused Ms Meloni of constructing a “media pillory” towards her and stated the Fb submit confirmed that she used to be a “little lady”. She later stated in a separate submit: “You do not scare me, Giorgia Meloni. Finally, you might be just one.2m [3ft 9in] tall. I will’t even see you.”Ms Meloni’s top is reported in Italian media to be 1.63m (5ft 3in).Ms Cortese used to be cleared for posting the preliminary symbol however convicted over the later tweets.She has the method to attraction however has now not but showed whether or not she’s going to accomplish that. Ms Meloni’s legal professional stated she would donate any cash she won to charity. Responding to the decision on X, Ms Cortese wrote: “Italy’s govt has a major problem with freedom of expression and journalistic dissent. “This nation turns out to get nearer to [Viktor] Orbán’s Hungary: those are dangerous instances for impartial reporters and opinion leaders. Let’s hope for higher days forward. We would possibly not surrender!”She later added that she used to be “Italian and proud to be” however that “we deserve higher than this appalling and shameful govt”.
