"I would like to reiterate that it is the task of journalists to be certifiers before public opinion of the correspondence between facts and their representation, thus contributing to the exercise of democracy constituted by information. The authenticity of information is entrusted, by laws, to the professionalism and ethics of each journalist".This was said by the Head of State in his speech at the Quirinale during the traditional meeting with members of the Parliamentary Press Association. Mattarella added that "it would be misleading -- and contradictory to the same constitutional provisions -- to imagine that third-party bodies could be entrusted with the task of certifying the lawfulness of information flows". In the same hours that Mattarella uttered these words, the text of the decree reorganizing the news agency sector came out of Palazzo Chigi, which, among other things, stipulates that news agencies must have the figure of an external guarantor charged with ensuring the quality of information and preventing the spread of fake news. A protest initiative by agency directors has been announced against the requirement of this external "oversight".
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