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TO: letters@nytimes.com, @JBennet
CC: direction@rsf.org , pulitzer@pulitzer.org, ilariacapua1@gmail.com, letterealdirettore@espressoedit.it, rubrica.lettere@repubblica.it, redazione@ildubbio.news, wsj.ltrs@wsj.com, lettere@corriere.it, chimienti_s@camera.it, contact@icij.org, redazione@ilsussidiario.net, segnalazioni@fanpage.it, lettere@ilfattoquotidiano.it, mnegri@marionegri.it, report@rai.it
Florence, May 8th 2017
Asking around “Did you know that the side effect of this sudden increase of measles it’s because of the Five Star Movement anti-vaccination campaign?”, taken by surprise, common people answer as follows: “No I didn’t”.
“M5S may not be responsible for the entire outbreak” ( https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/02/opinion/vaccination-populism-politics-and-measles.html?_r=0 ), but logic leads to the following conclusion: if not entirely, it means that they are partially responsible.
According to the 2017 ‘Reporters sans frontières’ Press Freedom Index, the U.S. were ranked 43rd , downgraded by two positions behind Burkina Faso. Talking about Africa, virologist and former deputy Ilaria Capua last year was forced to escape from Italy to University of Florida due to a witch-hunt inspired by ‘Gruppo Editoriale Espresso Spa’ where she was branded as a “Virus smuggler”, concerning her studies on african “H5N1 virus strain… garnering international attention from media outlets such as the Wall Street Journal and The New York Times”.
“Is ‘l’Espresso’ going to apologize for that?” wondered columinst Paolo Mieli (‘Corriere della Sera’, July 7th 2016).
Still waiting. Is this the reason why Italy has been upgraded, according to ‘Rsf’, from 77th to 52nd in 2017? At least Five Star Movement deputy Silvia Chimienti, who unwisely accused Professor Capua, did apologize.
Right before winning the 2017 Pulitzer Prize, in conjunction with the ‘International Consortium of Investigative Journalists‘, ‘Gruppo Editoriale Espresso Spa’ was asked to put the link of a post in their ‘Letters to the Editor’ section; post in which their liaisons with political parties, U.S. and Italian banks, as well as with private operators in the power and natural gas market were icily reported ( https://www.civitasdemocratica.it/2017/04/04/furbi-et-orbi/ ). But no heartbeat detected: were they afraid to lose the prize?
“The bottom line is that Renzi… is the only Italian leader to represent the Left being sponsored by U.S. merchant banks…” (Gianluigi da Rold, ‘Il Sussidiario’, May 3rd 2017); and also, recalling Jean-Michel Naulot and Christopher Lash, populism is a “term used by the Left to designate the people when they start slipping away from it”.
Is everything ok for the ‘NYT’ the way Democratic primaries just took place in Italy, the lack of pediatricians (at least in Tuscany, so maybe witch doctors will start vaccinating kids) and the way IBM is supposed to handle Italian health data? ( https://www.civitasdemocratica.it/2017/04/14/ricorso-primarie-segreteria-pd/ ) Or perhaps ‘The Grey Lady’ is suffering from a post dramatic weasely syndrome, caused by Hillary’s loss? ( https://www.civitasdemocratica.it/2016/02/06/to-the-45th-us-president/ )
If that’s the case, unfortunately there is no vaccine for it.
So, shouldn’t it be ‘Populism, Politcs and Weasels’?
Sincerely
Giovanni Amaducci