91-YEAR OLD JOURNALIST GIORGIO BOCCA DIED ON CHRISTMAS DAY
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11:17 26 DIC 2011
(AGI) Milan - Giorgio Bocca died on Christmas day in Milan at
91 years of age. He had been a wartime partisan, journalist,
founder of the newspaper 'La Repubblica' and a long-time
collaborator of the Fininvest TV networks. News of his death
was released by Feltrinelli, a publishing company who published
several of his books and that recalled him as "a great
journalist, a great combatant and a great friend". "Since the
partisan war of resistance up to these last few days of the
Italian and global crisis - the publishing company continues in
a note - he witnessed, observed and told the history of our
Country through seven decades. Giorgio Bocca's enquiries, short
polemic articles and books have accompanied and nourished the
building of civil society through many generations of
Italians". In January, Feltrinelli will pubish his latest book:
'Grazie no, 7 idee che non dobbiamo piu' accettare' ('No,
thanks: 7 ideas we can no longer accept'). In the past, in
addition to his journalistic activities, Bocca - who was born
in Cuneo on the 28th of August 1920 - wrote several essays and
his having fought with the "Giustizia e Liberta'" Partisan
division often led him to tackle the issue of fascism and
resistance although he also wrote books on terrorism during the
'70s, on journalism and on the problems of the South of Italy.
During the last few months, some of his comments on the
'Meridione' had placed him at the center of controversy after
he defined Naples as 'flea-bag' with 'unhealable areas' or
Palermo as a city "stinking rotten, with monstruous people
gushing out of slums". A skilled polemicist, during the last
few years, he had often delved into the condition of journalism
in Italy: in 2008, in an interview on the 'Le invasioni
barbariche' TV show, he said that while the journalists of his
generation "were driven by ethics" today "truth is no longer of
interest" and "publishers are always on the payroll of
advertisers". Among the last recognitions awarded to him was
the 2008 Ilaria Alpi Prize for his Life-Long Achievements: "All
those that go into journalism do so because they hope they
might reveal the truth: even if it's difficult, I call on them
and encourage them to continue along this road". .
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