Wednesday August 1 10:12 AM ET

Media Bodies Condemn Move to Seize G8 Film

By Steve Pagani

ROME (Reuters) - International journalists' bodies and media watchdogs have expressed grave concern over Italian prosecutors' efforts to seize journalists' photographs and video footage of protests at the Group of Eight (G8) summit in Genoa.

They said the orders compelling Italian and foreign media organizations to hand over the material taken at the demonstrations put the lives of journalists at risk. Authorities said the material was important to criminal investigations.

``This is really pretty outrageous,'' Aidan White, president of the Brussels-based International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) and European Federation of Journalists, told Reuters.

``As these confrontations become sharper, it means that journalists are going to be more and more identified as part of the problem for protesters rather than professionals trying to record what is going on,'' he said.

``And that is really dangerous.''

Over the past week, Genoa state prosecutors have issued a series of orders to media organizations to hand over photos and TV cassettes of the demonstrations in the city during the July 20-22
summit of world leaders.

Police shot dead a young Italian protester during the riots and more than 200 people were injured, among them demonstrators, members of the security forces and journalists. More than 280 people were arrested, many of them foreign.

Italian police and security forces have come under a barrage of criticism at home and abroad accusing them of brutality and of depriving detainees of their rights.

PROTESTERS AND POLICE UNDER INVESTIGATION

Genoa prosecutors have launched investigations into both the violence on the streets and alleged police maltreatment.

Some Italian and foreign media companies, including Reuters, received a first order as the summit concluded, demanding photographs and TV footage relating specifically to the shooting of 23-year-old Carlo Giuliani, among a group of protesters seen attacking a police jeep on the opening day of the summit.

A second order binds media organizations to yield photos or TV footage of a police raid on the headquarters of the protest groups' umbrella organization, the Genoa Social Forum, in the early hours of July 22.

Genoa prosecutors issued a third order on Monday to requisition all photos and TV footage of the ``violence, willful destruction and looting'' in Genoa between July 20-22.

Reuters asked the office of Justice Minister Roberto Castelli for a comment on the investigations but there was no immediate response.

Italian state television RAI and foreign news agencies were among the companies asked to provide material.

``We have been asked by the magistrates office in Genoa to provide photos of the raid on the school. It is now in the hands of our lawyers,'' said Victor Simpson, Associated Press News Editor in Rome.

The Rome office of French news agency Agence France Presse (AFP) said it had received one order from Genoa prosecutors, also relating to the school raid, but added it had no material of the raid.

JOURNALISTS ``IN DANGER''

``We are completely against the idea that journalists should be used in one way or another as a substitute to make up for the fact that the police or magistrates were not there. That is not our job,'' said Robert Menard, secretary general of the Paris-based media watchdog Reporters Sans Frontieres.

``If people realize that the work of photographers and cameramen will end up in the hands of the police, then they will no longer be able to carry out their work. Obviously it puts the journalists in danger.''

Asked if the orders might lead to reprisals against journalists trying to do their jobs in the future, Roberto Fucigna, coordinator of Genoa's preliminary investigating magistrates, said:

``This is a general request so that the media collaborates with the state to find those who have committed crimes. It is up to the journalists to decided whether to cooperate or not.''

Lawyers say media groups have to comply with the orders from the state prosecutors as Italian law does not allow for appeals and metes out strict penalties for non-compliance.

Paolo Serventi Longhi, general secretary of Italy's National Press Federation, said there was no question that under Italian law media material could be seized.

``Our concern is always that these requests are carried out correctly and to the letter of the law,'' he told Reuters.

The Federation did, however, express its concern over charges that security forces wore media credentials during the G8 to masquerade as journalists. It has called for an inquiry.

In New York, the Committee to Protect Journalists said it supported a full investigation into violence against journalists during the G8 demonstrations.

``Whether these were police officers or demonstrators, those who attacked journalists must be held accountable,'' said Alex Lupis, the Europe Program Coordinator for the CPJ.

(Additional reporting by Raffaella Malaguti in Rome and Crispian Balmer in Paris)

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