An event has, so to speak, disproportionately captivated the Italian press since the beginning of April. During an interview on a radio station close to the political right, journalist and human rights activist Claudia Conte confirmed that she is in a relationship with the Minister of the Interior, Piantedosi. The rumor had been circulating in Roman gossip circles for some time, and Claudia Conte wanted to put a definitive stop to it.
The story could have ended here, as a private matter between a well-known journalist, active on TV and social media, and a public figure like Minister Piantedosi, who enjoys respect and esteem. But in 2024, there was a completely different and stormy telenovela: the relationship between the then Minister of Culture, Gennaro Sangiuliano - later forced to resign - and the entrepreneur Maria Rosaria Boccia, with legal repercussions. And some newspapers tried to find analogies. But between the two events, Conte-Piantedosi and Boccia-Sangiuliano, there is no analogy, neither in how the facts unfolded nor in how the protagonists behaved.
Claudia Conte limited herself to confirming the existence of the relationship with the Minister and then became completely tight-lipped. For his part, the Minister made no comment on Claudia Conte's statements, but after his offices conducted investigations, he demonstrated that there had been no favoritism by the administration he directed towards the journalist.
Meanwhile, however, fanciful reconstructions have flooded the newspapers, and there has been a fierce effort to try to prove that Claudia Conte's career was attributable to her private life and not to her professional preparation and her activities, which saw her prominently engaged in many civil battles and in defense of human rights. .
Unfortunately, it's a bad habit of the Italian press to lash out at well-known individuals, casting shadows on their respectability and professional successes. Serious journalistic investigations are based on confirmed documents and facts, not on hearsay, hypotheses, or confused narratives. Some journalists confuse their role with that of public prosecutors.
There is a substantial difference. Prosecutors in preliminary investigations bring charges against suspects and seek evidence on which judges will rule in court. In truth, prosecutors should also seek evidence in favor of the suspects... But anyway. Journalists in their investigations should not bring charges or formulate investigative hypotheses: they must present facts, reconstruct events with irrefutable documents, without jumping to conclusions and without discrediting people.
To protect the rights of Claudia Conte, her lawyer, Domenico Forgione, has released the following text, which we publish in full. Here it is:
“Dr. Claudia Conte, my client, has not wanted to intervene in recent days, despite the media lynching she has suffered, so as not to fuel gossip about her person. However, insolence and unacceptable attacks continue, as well as various offers of visibility that do not interest her in any way.
Regarding all of this, my client requests respect for her privacy and her person. She does not intend to make any statements or give interviews about her private life, either today or in the future. Furthermore, she has no intention of writing a tell-all book with improbable shocking revelations about anyone, as some media outlets claim in a completely unfounded manner, and for which they will be held accountable in court.
Claudia Conte respects people and asks for respect, a right of hers that I formally request to be observed.
Under your guardianship, I am undertaking the necessary legal actions, which are in the process of being filed, and will be pursued against those who – on mass media and social media – have asserted defamatory facts, such as regarding the absence of appropriate academic qualifications, or that I received assignments through the illicit intervention of government officials, or even worse, that I ever had blackmailing intentions towards anyone. They have dissected my career, and not a single assignment, even unpaid, has emerged that can be attributed to illicit solicitations or favoritism from anyone, let alone from government officials. The more they investigate, the more they find work dating back in time with different clients, most of the time attributable to different political and institutional spheres. Not to mention that, in all the cases that have emerged, those who gave me the assignments explained that they chose me independently for my merits and without any conditioning whatsoever.
Your career has therefore developed entirely independently.
Regarding the issue of blackmail, my client has neither the disposition nor the intention, nor does she have any elements or information to condition anyone into obtaining any kind of benefit. Nor does it make sense to fuel expectations of who-knows-what revelations that will never happen, for the simple reason that there is nothing to reveal. Those who insist on claiming otherwise will be held accountable. The only thing she asks for, as stated, is to be left alone to be able to live and work in peace, as she deserves and has a right to.
It is also completely unacceptable to allude to Claudia Conte's proximity to criminal circles, a claim devoid of any factual basis that moreover offends her personal commitment, which has always been aimed at defending legality.
The theory that Claudia Conte is part of a fictitious political conspiracy against the government is completely unfounded, so ridiculous that it cannot even be commented on. The defamers should resign themselves to the fact that there are no shock revelations, no illegalities, no conspiracies, and no blackmail to use to continue this unfounded and instrumental smear campaign on a topic that, moreover, should not arouse any real public interest.
Clearly, all those who have supported or even made defamatory allusions to these aspects will answer for it in the appropriate venues.
Regarding the latest paradoxical gossip, which has also been fueled by “urgent interpellations” from political figures, my client has never stated in any institutional setting that she obtained her degree from Luiss Guido Carli University. However, she did enroll there and took several exams before withdrawing from her studies and successfully completing her university path at another institution, earning a master's degree in law with a single cycle.
The right to report cannot and must not become mockery, as also provided for by the code of ethics of the Order of Journalists.
The attempted comparison with previous cases is entirely unfounded, as there is no analogy in terms of facts, dynamics, personal behaviors, or media posture. My client's composure and silence regarding her private life – now and in the future – are proof of this.
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