# Il Fatto Quotidiano

il Fatto Quotidiano (English: "The Daily Fact") is an Italian daily newspaper owned by Editoriale Il Fatto S.p.A. and published in Rome. It was founded on 23 September 2009 and was edited by Antonio Padellaro [it] until 2015, when Marco Travaglio became the editor. The three deputy editors are Marco Lillo [it], Salvatore Cannavò [it] (a former MP for the Communist Refoundation Party and Critical Left) and Maddalena Oliva.
Born on the long wave of Mani pulite and subsequent corruption scandals, it was a point of reference for the most intransigent anti-Berlusconism. Described by the likes of philosopher and journalist Alberico Giostra as a party-newspaper created by Paolo Flores d'Arcais and Travaglio, it has combined both left-wing and right-wing positions, but it is broadly left-wing populist and anti-establishment.
The newspaper says it is independent and objective. It has been accused by critics of holding both left-wing and right-wing biases. It is widely held to be politically close to the Five Star Movement (M5S), including by Michele Santoro, the paper's co-founder, and former contributor Luca Telese [it]. It has sometimes published editorials critical of the M5S.

## History

In late 2008, Marco Travaglio was asked by fellow journalist Massimo Fini [it] to advertise Fini's newly founded magazine, La voce del ribelle ("The Rebel's Voice"), on his blog Voglioscendere.it, with the objective of gathering "a few hundred subscriptions". Thousands of people answered, allowing Fini's magazine to succeed. Because of this success, Travaglio started considering the idea of using his blog to launch a new newspaper, independent of public funding. Travaglio announced his intention on 1 June 2009.
The title il Fatto Quotidiano ("The Daily Fact") was chosen as a homage to journalist Enzo Biagi, who at then Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi's request was removed from RAI, the Italian state television, in what became known as the editto bulgaro controversy; Biagi's daily ten-minute prime-time news commentary on Rai 1 was titled Il Fatto [it]. RAI refused to permit the newspaper to be called simply Il Fatto, asserting rights to that name. In June 2009, l'Antefatto, a promotional website, was set up containing information about subscription and the development of the project. Travaglio stated that the publisher would not use Italian state advertising and funding to run the newspaper but instead use only money from sales and market advertisements.
The first issue, printed in 100,000 copies in addition to 32,000 subscriptions, was already sold out before 8:00 AM on 23 September; distribution was limited to the largest cities. As a consequence, the newspaper announced it would immediately double the number of copies and make the first issue available online free of charge.
It is considered close to the Five Star Movement (M5S). The pro-M5S line of the paper has caused internal clashes in the editorial staff and contributed to the resignation of several journalists, including Luca Telese [it], Michele Santoro, Davide Vecchi [it], and Stefano Feltri [it]. Following the start of the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, journalist and co-founder Furio Colombo said the paper had taken a pro-Russian stance, and resigned from the paper due to its hiring of Alessandro Orsini. He was also critical of the theories of Fini, a fellow columnist, on the German occupation of Italy during World War II. Its reporting on the war has been seen as so pro-Russia and pro-Vladimir Putin that the Russian embassy has praised and retweeted it.

## Ownership

il Fatto Quotidiano is published by Editoriale Il Fatto S.p.A., an Italian company; the managing director is Giorgio Poidomani. The company regulation states that up to 70% of the shares can be owned by entrepreneurs but that no one of them can own more than 16% of the share capital, estimated at €600,000. The remaining 30% of the shares is owned by the newspaper columnists. As a result, no important choice can be made without the consent of the columnists, as a 70% majority + 1 is needed to carry out decisions about the newspaper policy or editor election.

## Format and circulation

il Fatto Quotidiano is printed in the compact format and full colour. It is distributed in Italy by post and through over 25,000 newsagents in the major Italian towns and regions. A significant fraction of the readership, about one fifth, is made out of subscriptions to the PDF version of the newspaper. As of 25 December 2009, circulation of il Fatto Quotidiano was 113,000. The paper had a circulation of 78,669 copies in 2010.

## Editors

* Antonio Padellaro (2009–2015)
* Marco Travaglio (since 2015)

## Columnists

* Marco Travaglio (editor-in-chief)
* Nuccio Ciconte
* Vitantonio Lopez
* Sandra Amurri
* Gianni Barbacetto
* Oliviero Beha
* Francesco Bonazzi
* Beatrice Borromeo
* Furio Colombo (former)
* Silvia D'Onghia
* Alessandro Ferrucci
* Enrico Fierro
* Massimo Fini
* Peter Gomez
* Marco Lillo
* Wanda Marra
* Malcom Pagani
* Luca Telese (former)