Italy: Il Manifesto fights against the end
Italy's long-standing left-wing daily newspaper, *Il Manifesto*, is fighting to survive. Under pressure from significant cuts to government subsidies for daily newspapers, the independent communist newspaper—founded in 1971—now faces closure.
The Ministry of Industry in Rome has already initiated proceedings to forcibly dissolve the cooperative, which has published the daily newspaper since 1971. The Monti government has given the Leaf has not yet confirmed the financing it needs to survive. Falling advertising revenue and a circulation at a record low of 20,000 copies have severely weakened the daily newspaper in recent months. The 60 journalists and administrative staff have not been paid since last September. The paper has been heavily in debt for years.
The paper's editor-in-chief, Norma Rangeri, described the dissolution of the cooperative that publishes the paper as a "political offense". However, the journalists want to continue the fight and are calling for an extraordinary campaign to save the daily newspaper. They appealed to readers to actively support the paper in order to avert its closure at the last minute.
"We have already experienced many crises in our 40-year history, but this one is the most serious, also because of the political environment in which we find ourselves," said the editor-in-chief. The paper has lost many readers due to the crisis, which is eating into Italians' income. "We can no longer do it alone, we need you!", the appeal reads. (SDA/APA)
