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As journalists in Italy’s state broadcaster RAI go on strike protesting at the “suffocating control” of right wing Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s administration, and the World Press Freedom Index (WPFI) gives a ‘bad’ rating to seven out of 10 countries around the globe, here our Editor, Welshman Phil Parry looks at the vital importance of having an independent media (needed now more than ever after the disturbing European Parliament election results), with the kind of investigative journalism he undertakes central to keeping those in power on their toes.
It is even happening in a modern democratic state which is part of the European Union (EU) where media freedom is enshrined in law.
The concept is defined in the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights as well as the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR).
The EU’s enlargement process guarantees it, describing an unfettered media as a “key indicator of a country’s readiness to become part of the EU”.
Italy has signed up to all of this, and is, therefore, not some tin-pot far away country where basic democratic freedoms are regularly trampled on.
Apart from being a signatory, it should be noted that it was also a founding member of the EU – one of the most important trading blocs in the world, where an independent media is fundamental.
But last month journalists on RAI were forced to strike because Georgia Meloni of the fascist-rooted party Brothers of Italy, was “attempting to turn RAI into a mouthpiece for the Government”.
Ms Meloni decided to place herself at the head of candidates for the European elections, and a victory emboldened her still further.
She has declared in a fiery speech: “We want to do in Europe exactly what we did in Italy on September 25, 2022 – creating a majority that brings together the forces of the right to finally send the left into opposition, even in Europe!”.
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Meanwhile, criticism has intensified over attempts by the Italian government to silence journalists with legal action, along with proposals by Ms Meloni’s party to increase sanctions for defamation.
A prominent author has accused RAI of censorship after the reading of an antifascist monologue was abruptly cancelled ‘for editorial reasons’.
The monologue had been scheduled to be broadcast on the RAI 3 TV channel on April 25, the public holiday that celebrates Italy’s freedom from fascism in 1945.
Usigrai, the major journalists’ union at the broadcaster, said in a statement: “We strike to defend the autonomy and independence of the public radio and television service from the pervasive control of information spaces by politicians”.
I endorse the broadcaster’s statement at the time, but fear it may contain only empty words, when it countered that it is “committed to safeguarding the values of pluralism and freedom of expression”.
The Meloni government has also been accused of making strategic use of defamation lawsuits to silence media dissent, including complaints against newspaper Domani and journalist Roberto Saviano.
Ms Meloni’s brother-in-law, cabinet minister Francesco Lollobrigida filed a criminal complaint against a TV commentator on La7, an independent channel, for saying that he spoke “like a Gauleiter”, referring to Nazi regional leaders.
Defamation in Italy can be considered a crime punishable by up to six years in jail.
The constitutional court has ordered a reform of defamation law to end the criminalisation of journalists, but Ms Meloni’s government postponed a parliamentary debate on that bill.
Italy has dropped five slots to 46th in the latest World Press Freedom Index (WPFI) by Reporters Without Borders (RSF).
The RSF reported how ‘Giorgia Meloni’s Italy’ was an example of political groups “orchestrating the takeover of the media ecosystem … where a member of the ruling parliamentary coalition is trying to acquire the second biggest news agency (AGI)”.
The European Commission (EC) has been urged to investigate, particularly allegations that RAI, is being turned into a “megaphone” for the ruling parties before the European elections which begin in three days time.
This came from the European Green (EG) party after the Italian parliament’s supervisory committee for RAI approved a measure allowing the broadcaster’s news channel to televise political rallies in full and without any journalistic mediation in the run-up to the vote.
Agcom, the communications watchdog, rejected an attempt by politicians from Brothers of Italy, the League and Ms Meloni’s smaller coalition partner, Noi Moderati, to allow ministers unrestricted airtime during the campaign period to discuss their “institutional and Government activity”.
“Meloni wants to turn Italian media into unrestricted propaganda channels for the ruling parties”, declared Bas Eickhout, a lead election candidate for the EG.
“Free and independent press are a prerequisite for fair and free elections. These interferences by the Meloni government, which includes a (Forza Italia) member of Ursula von der Leyen’s European People’s party, undermine the freedom of the press and the fair election process”.
Terry Reintke, another lead EG party candidate, said: “The media is the guardian of democracy. We cannot accept that Meloni is trying to turn it into a megaphone for her government. We stand with journalists in Italy and across Europe who are courageously fighting for press freedom and truth”.
Agcom’s par condicio, or ‘level playing field’, regulations for communication through the media during election campaigns are usually followed by both private and public TV networks.
“For the first time, there are two different regimes for the public and private TV networks”, said Elisa Giomi, an Agcom commissioner. “For Rai viewers, it will be difficult to decipher what is communication of government activity and what is electioneering”.
Meanwhile, journalists from AGI, Italy’s second-largest press agency, have held several strikes in protest over the company’s potential sale to Antonio Angelucci, a parliamentarian with the League.
“In Italy, we are witnessing a Hungarian drift”, said Vittorio Di Trapani, the president of FNSI, the national federation of the Italian press and journalists’ union, alluding to the tight grip Viktor Orbán’s Government has on domestic media.
He proclaimed that: “Italy is increasingly distant from Europe and from the standards of the European Media Freedom Act”.
Media freedom should not be ‘distant’ in any country, particularly one where it is part of the legal framework.
I wouldn’t be able to do my job otherwise!
The memories of Phil’s astonishing decades-long award-winning career in journalism (when he was able to operate in a largely free environment) as he was gripped by the rare neurological disabling condition, Hereditary Spastic Paraplegia (HSP), have been released in a major book ‘A GOOD STORY’. Order the book now!
Regrettably publication of another book, however, was refused, because it was to have included names.
Tomorrow – Phil looks at how more and more today the lazy cliché is given that something is the ‘size of Wales’, and is even now being used in advertising!
