Dear Editor,
I watch with disbelief and amazement what is happening in the newsroom of La Stampa, a newspaper I have followed since I had hair because I am from Alessandria. I would have bet thousands of euros that the exit of such a cumbersome publisher as John Elkann (I’m not the one saying he is, I’m just an external observer: try ringing Riccardo Luna asking him why he suddenly left Italian Tech of Repubblica or ask the same newsroom that precisely during the technology event in Turin organized by Gedi went on strike against the Agnelli family scion) would have made everyone breathe a sigh of relief there, allowing to finally deal with the Fiat – Stellantis issue with the hoped-for calm just now when it is seen by many observers as a entity fleeing Italy (and the fact that Elkann no longer has an interest in keeping the North-West newspaper in his portfolio is probably a sign precisely of the fact that the car company is no longer “Turin-centric”).
It may be a coincidence, but the most aggressive newspapers towards the management of the Italian Stellantis factories seemed to me Il Sole 24 Ore and especially the Milanese Corriere della Sera, while La Stampa and Repubblica seemed to proceed with the handbrake on. Well, but if Turin is Fiat and Fiat is Turin, as journalists of the main newspaper of the North West aren’t you perhaps happy to finally have free hands to deal with the subject in a historical period that seems to prelude great industrial changes, potentially harmful for our economic ecosystem?
I would have no doubts in answering. The response of the journalists of La Stampa instead is this: “Today you will not find our newspaper on newsstands: the La Stampa newsroom has gathered in a permanent assembly. What has happened and is happening in recent hours is a serious and unprecedented rupture in the history of our newspaper. With the signing of the preliminary contract for the sale to the Sae group, the Gedi group is carrying out yet another divestment of a season that has already impoverished the Italian editorial landscape. La Stampa, which for over a century has represented a stronghold of information for the North West and for the entire country, is being sold without clear and binding guarantees being provided to those who produce it every day and to the readers who support it. It is unacceptable.”
The Cdr complains: “A future full of uncertainties opens up for our newspaper. The operation will be completed within the semester, but to date there are no concrete commitments on employment, wages, organizational structures, editorial line and investments. Not some administrative practice to be dealt with, but a revolution that can compromise the identity, autonomy and quality of our work. To Gedi, whom we met yesterday, we asked for precise answers: on what basis is it believed that Sae can guarantee continuity and development? What financial guarantees have actually been provided? What is the exact perimeter of the activities sold? We asked for binding clauses to protect jobs, wages, the national contract and company agreements. The answers were vague, evasive, insufficient. We cannot and do not want to settle.”
If I wanted to be malicious, editor, it almost seems that economic security was preferred to the serenity of being able to tell the local economic reality in which they are immersed in a 360-degree way.
Long live John Elkann, who moreover saw his probation request regarding the Marella Caracciolo inheritance rejected.
Bad instead is the new buyer: “We ask Sae to come out into the open. We demand the immediate presentation of the industrial plan and the editorial project. We want to know the corporate composition of the vehicle that will acquire the newspaper, to know who the investors mentioned in the statements are, to have formal and written confirmation of the full autonomy and independence of the newspaper. We demand guarantees on maintaining staff, on the structure of the newsrooms, on investments in digital and multimedia. Not declarations of principle, but commitments in black and white.”
And then predictably the usual lament about the constitutional right to information: “The sale of a newspaper is not a neutral or merely accounting fact. Information is not a commodity to be traded: it is a public good, a democratic stronghold, a right of citizens. Every opaque passage, every choice without safeguards, puts at risk not only the work of a newsroom, but the pluralism and quality of public debate.”
However, I do not recall any of these hyper-unionized journalists evoking and waving the right to information about the issue of precariousness in the world of journalism, about how much individual pieces are paid (it would be nice to have the Gedi price list) to external collaborators and after how long. Because if a journalist faces precariousness, lives day to day and is paid little and badly, does the theme of “public good, democratic stronghold, the right of citizens to be informed with rigor and punctuality” never arise? Why do such dangers only emerge when it touches those who have their behind well covered by collective bargaining?
Then the tone becomes even more farcical: “In these decisive hours we strongly claim the right to know, to understand, to participate. We will not be spectators of decisions concerning our future and that of the newspaper. If concrete guarantees do not arrive, we are ready to defend the newsroom and the readers’ right to free, authoritative and independent information with all the legitimate tools at our disposal.” It seems the prelude to a state of siege. “The history of La Stampa is not a property to be transferred silently: it belongs to a wide community of readers. To that community we say clearly that we will not back down one step in defending the dignity of our work and the values that found it.”
But the journalists of La Stampa are not the only ones carrying on a battle made even more unjustifiable in my opinion by the fact that the buyer (Alberto Leonardis, in the photo) is not an outsider to publishing, but has already acquired from Gedi four newspapers — Il Tirreno, Gazzetta di Modena, Gazzetta di Reggio and La Nuova Ferrara — and in his Sapere Aude Editori since 2022 there is also La Nuova Sardegna and since 2024 the Provincia Pavese. This subject who for the journalists of La Stampa should “come out into the open” publishes six daily newspapers and closed 2025 with over 175 million in revenues and an EBITDA of 15 million.
In an article published in the Corriere I also discover that ” The governor of Piedmont, Alberto Cirio, has said that the Region is following «closely» the sale of the newspaper, while the mayor of Turin, Stefano Lo Russo, said he will watch «the industrial plan and employment»” and I can’t help but grin since in my opinion the Region and the City should mainly worry about employment issues connected to Mirafiori, which in the very last period has started producing some cars again, but the ‘indotto has been massacred by the group’s industrial decisions, between Alfa Romeos made in Poland, Fiats produced in Serbia and Algeria (Grande Panda), or in Morocco (Topolino).
I honestly remain stunned to see how the world of politics – and in particular the center-right representatives – so far ignored by Elkann (the Meloni government has repeatedly asked that Stellantis return to producing 1 million cars a year: in 2025 the Italian plants produced 380 thousand, even less than the 475,090 units of 2024 and the 751,384 of 2023) continued to prefer that publisher who moreover also refused to appear in Parliament at the first invitation, except to come down to Rome on his own timing.
I have been explaining for four years that after Magneti Marelli, Comau, Iveco and the emptying of Italian factories, Elkann would have sold the newspapers that served him excellently to “cover himself on the left”. The response from @LaStampa was not to interview me anymore for years.… https://t.co/ldjJGtZ0tN
— Carlo Calenda (@CarloCalenda) March 4, 2026
And I am also stunned that the journalists preferred him, despite their new publisher already being in publishing and it does not seem – at least for now – that he has any conflicts of interest. The Subalpine Press Association and the Piedmont Journalists’ Order in a joint note declare: “Our position is clear: La Stampa must remain an authoritative, independent newspaper respectful of its over-century-old history. Always willing to constructive dialogue albeit sharp in tone, Subalpina and the Order will not leave room for forced actions to reduce the perimeter of workers, journalists and non-journalists, and editorial shifts that could obscure the liberal and democratic spirit of La Stampa.”
In the same vein the note from the Roman Press Association: “The sale of La Stampa to Sae, announced today by Gedi, has too many shadows, which neither the seller nor the buyer have wanted to illuminate, despite persistent requests from the newsroom and union. It is essential that the buyer clarify the projects for the newspaper, the mysterious northern partners who would be ready to enter the deal, the guarantees for employment and salaries.”
“To defend the identity and the very economic value of La Stampa – the statement continues – adequate financial resources and investments are needed first and foremost, essential to ensure the newspaper a future worthy of its history, of its role in the democratic life of the country.” The regional union concludes: “Stampa Romana, with Fnsi and the other regional press associations, will stand alongside the colleagues of the Cdr, of the newsroom, in all actions they want to undertake.”
The arrival of a heavyweight (no bad jokes) of journalism like Luca Telese at Il Centro, an Abruzzo newspaper, seems to me a sign of the willingness to invest in the Group’s newspapers.
I close with the words of a true Torinese, Lorenzo Pregliasco, political analyst, communication expert and founder of YouTrend, because they seem to me to give an excellent reading of how things work in Italy, at every level and under every bell tower. Even under the Mole Antonelliana.
Regards,
Claudio Trezzano
