Italy | A man confessed to his mother’s murder in a television interview, the TV channel receives criticism

Italy shocks the case in which a man confessed to his mother’s murder on television, says, among other things The Guardian.

The Italian media company Mediaset has received criticism for showing the man’s confession on its channel.

The man had been wanted since Sunday on suspicion of murdering his mother, when a news crew came across the 50-year-old man by chance outside her home.

The man confessed to the interviewer that he had strangled his mother, who had dementia, because he couldn’t take it anymore and the mother sometimes made him very angry when she repeated the same things.

The man lived together with his mother and he had fled to a nearby town after committing the murder. However, he had returned home and was met there by a television crew.

News reporter called the police, but it was decided to show the interview to the reporter Myrta Merlino hosting the Pomeriggio5 talk show.

Merlino told Corriere della Sera that he only had a few minutes to decide what to do and decided to show the interview. According to Merlino, they had permission from the police to show the interview.

Showing an interview with a distressed man aroused irritation in many viewers and made them question the morality of the media.

Other media also wondered about the decision to show the interview. Editor of Il Foglio newspaper, among other things Ermes Antonucci questioned the need to broadcast an interview with a man in a confused state.

“Wasn’t it enough to call the police, as was fortunately done, and then explain what happened without sending the video? The media circus has reached a real bottom.”