Roman court ratifies sentence against Corriere della Sera for defaming Cristina Kirchner
A Roman Appeals Court has confirmed a ruling against Italy’s Corriere Della Sera newspaper for a defamatory piece on Argentine President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner.
The court had already ruled against the daily in a 2013 decision, as well as its former director Paolo Mieli and staff writer Maria Egizia Fisachetti, who had said in a 2008 article that Mrs. Kirchner had gone shopping during an official trip to Europe.
Today’s ruling confirms that 2013 sentence on actual malice grounds, that is, with foreknowledge that what was published was false or with reckless disregard of whether it was false or not. The newspaper was ordered to pay Cristina Kirchner €40,000 in damages, which the head of state donated entirely to the La Plata Children’s Hospital.
The controversial article was published in 2008 claiming that as she visited Italy to attend the summit of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), Mrs. Kirchner had visited Rome's famous Enigma jewelers to purchase Bulgari-designed earrings, watches and golden bracelets worth more that €140,000. The false information released by Corriere Della Sera was echoed by some Argentine media, which effectively used the story to overshadow a recognition awarded by the FAO to Argentina for exceeding hunger reduction goals.
Following the decision by Italian justice condemning the article, the new director of the daily, Ferruccio de Bortoli, officially apologized to Mrs. Kirchner. “Kirchner’s shopping was not true; Corriere della Sera convicted for an article,” the online edition of the newspaper said in its headline when the first ruling came out in 2013.
At: http://buenosairesherald.com/article/200497/roman-court-ratifies-sentence-against-corriere-for-defaming-cfk
