Newsgroup: it.media.tv
Titolo: 'Italy outraged by 'trash TV' attack'

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/tv_and_radio/2677113.stm
ITALY OUTRAGED BY 'TRASH TV' ATTACK
Italian ministers and media have reacted with fury at an article in the
UK's Financial Times saying Italian television has become sleazy,
undemocratic and dumbed-down. The article, written by Tobias Jones and
published on Thursday, said the Italian television studio had replaced
the senate and "soft porn has replaced hard news". 
 
He accused Italian prime minister and media mogul Silvio Berlusconi of
being behind the decline, saying the premier was "only a couple of moves
from check-mating democracy". 
The report has been picked up by an incredulous Italian press, with
politicians and commentators quick to denounce Jones' sentiments. 
Communications minister Maurizio Gasparri told La Repubblica newspaper:
"It's a mix of sanctimoniousness and of Marxism, worthy of a country
where there is still a section of the parliament where men wear a wig." 
Chat show host Maurizio Costanzo pointed out that "English television is
not a triumph of elegance itself" and accused the Financial Times of
"gratuitous insults". 
State broadcaster RAI issued a statement saying it was "astonished that
an authorative daily like the Financial Times should host such crude
opinions about Italian TV". 
In the original article, Jones, who lived in the Italian city of Parma
for four years, said "TV seems like one long song and dance karaoke show"
with "girls in bikinis everywhere". 
"Italy, don't be in any doubt, is the land that feminism forgot," he
wrote. 
'Cabaret' 
He said the country that was once the "artistic engine of the world" now
just imported Hollywood culture to the extent that its most famous actors
did film voice-overs. 
He said Berlusconi, who became prime minister for a second time in 2001
and owns a huge media empire, had "turned TV into endless advertisements
sandwiched between the cabaret". 
"He has turned television into an ideological vacuum, in which the medium
really has become the message. The result, of course, is that the mogul
has become the prime minister." 
In November 2002, a member of the banished Italian royal family,
30-year-old Emanuele Filiberto, began starring in an Italian TV
advertisement for a brand of olives that claims to make you feel "like a
king". 
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http://news.sify.com/cgi-bin/sifynews/news/content/news_fullstory_v2.jsp?article_oid=12537284&page_no=1
 
ITALY SLAMS UK REPORTER FOR TV STORY 
Rome, Jan 20 
Britain's Financial Times has raised the hackles of television-loving
Italy with an article slamming dumbed-down output that features
scantily-clad girls, quiz shows and cabaret. 
"The television studio has already usurped the senate, soft porn has
replaced hard news," wrote the author Tobias Jones. 
Jones blamed media-mogul-turned-prime-minister Silvio Berlusconi for
Italy's plight and said his "'televisual palace' is only a couple of
moves from check-mating democracy." 
The story, given prominent coverage by Italian newspapers, has taken on
the tones of a classic diplomatic spat, fuelled by Communications
Minister Maurizio Gasparri's irritated reaction to the piece Sunday. 
"It's a mix of sanctimoniousness and of Marxism, worthy of a country
where there is still a section of the parliament where men wear a wig,"
he told La Repubblica. 
Maurizio Costanzo, who hosts a popular chat show, accused the newspaper
of "gratuitous insults," and said Jones "is probably forgetting that
English television is not a triumph of elegance itself." 
Jones's diary of his four years of living in Parma, "The Dark Heart of
Italy", published this month, also irritated Costanzo. 
"He's written a book about the impossibility of living in Italian cities.
But how? Parma is one of the cities which has the best standard of
living. This Jones must be a bit deranged." 
State broadcaster RAI issued a statement saying it was "astonished that
an authorative daily like the Financial Times should host such crude
opinions about Italian TV." 
Jones paints a picture of multi-channeled mediocrity, where "TV seems
like one-long song and dance Karaoke show" with "girls in bikinis
everywhere." 
"Italy, don't be in any doubt, is the land that feminism forgot," he
wrote. "Italy, once the artistic engine of the world, has become a mass
importer of culture. The country is one of Hollywood's most important
markets, with the consequences that nowadays many of Italy's most famous
actors are its dubbers." 
Berlusconi has come under attack from opposition parties and artistic
bodies for taking control of public as well as most private television in
the country. 
"He has duly made TV in his own image: a slick salesman who once worked
as a singer on a cruise ship, he has turned TV into endless
advertisements sandwiched between the cabaret," wrote Jones. 
"He has turned television into an ideological vacuum, in which the medium
really has become the message. The result, of course, is that the mogul
has become the prime minister."
-- 
Trascritto da Lapalissiano
Icq 57269703


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