Newsgroup: it.politica
Titolo: MEDIA-ITALY:Low Marks on Freedom of Expression

 
MEDIA-ITALY:
Low Marks on Freedom of Expression
Francesco Screti
ROME, Jun 10 (IPS) - The police raid and search of the offices of leading 
Italian daily Corriere della Sera, after the newspaper reported that 
Italian-made pistols had been discovered in the possession of Iraqi rebel 
fighters, is just another example of the serious threats to freedom of 
expression in this European nation, say activists.
Police officers spent two hours searching the newspaper's Milan offices, 
looking for the documents used by Corriere della Sera journalists as sources 
for the explosive story.
Paolo Serventi Longhi, secretary of the Italian National Press Federation, 
called the incident "the latest in a long series of attacks on the right to 
information," and "a serious act of intimidation" aimed at all reporters.
The Corriere della Sera, founded in Milan in 1876, is Italy's oldest 
newspaper, and considered one of its most prestigious nationwide.
Reporters Without Borders, the Paris-based international press freedom 
watchdog, put Italy in 39th place on its latest list ranking countries in 
order from the least to the greatest restrictions on freedom of expression. 
This makes Italy the poorest-ranked nation in the European Union.
The list is topped by Denmark, a veritable paradise for journalists when it 
comes to freedom for exercising their profession, according to the 
organisation. Second place is taken by Sweden, while the last place is 
occupied by Iraq.
Italy's poor ranking is partly due to the increase in arrests for "crimes of 
opinion", violations of professional confidentiality and protection of 
sources, and police searches like the one carried out May 25 at the offices 
of Corriere della Sera by a specialised tax and financial crimes police 
unit.
But one of the greatest threats to press freedom in Italy is the conflict of 
interests represented by Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi's dual role as 
leader of the country and owner of a media and economic "empire".
Berlusconi owns three of Italy's eight nationwide TV networks, the Mondadori 
publishing group, two daily newspapers, a number of weekly publications, 
banks, insurance companies, construction firms and the AC Milan football 
club, among other holdings.
For journalist and author Marco Travaglio, Italy is not subject to a 
monopoly on information, as many say, "but rather a regime, because the head 
of government is the sole owner of private television, and at the same time, 
he controls the state-run broadcasting corporation RAI."
RAI (Radiotelevisione Italiana), which operates three nationwide TV 
networks, is a fully state-owned corporation with a board of directors 
designated by the presidents of the two houses of parliament and a general 
director appointed by the federal government.
"Freedom of information is threatened not only by the presence in the 
government of a politician who owns newspapers and TV stations," but also by 
the fact that political parties have controlled public television for 40 
years, Travaglio told IPS.
"Political parties should be 'controlled' or monitored by television, as 
opposed to controlling it, but in Italy the situation is reversed, and the 
parliament oversees RAI through a commission established in 1975," he 
explained.
As a result, "every time the government changes hands, public television 
changes as well," and always in the new government's favour, when "a 
journalist worthy of the name should automatically question and criticise 
whoever is governing the country," he maintained.
Within this "insane" system, said Travaglio, the press, "instead of being 
the watchdog of democracy, is in fact the lapdog of those in power."
Nicola Tranfaglia, a history of journalism professor at the University of 
Turin, concurred with Travaglio regarding the "oppression" of the media by 
the political powers-that-be in Italy, which has become even greater and 
more one-directional than in the past, with the advent of Berlusconi.
As a result, television has become less interesting, "the quality of 
information has got worse, and in many cases news is absent or insufficient 
or even purposely manipulated," he said.
Tranfaglia stressed that censorship not only exists in Italy, but is 
particularly strong. He himself fell victim to this practice when an 
interview he gave for a TV programme on fascism was actually erased to 
ensure that it would never be aired.
"Freedom of information only survives in a few niches, and is always very 
limited," he added.
Travaglio noted that "there are leftist journalists" working for the 
"right-wing" RAI, but only on the condition that they refrain from crossing 
certain limits set by Berlusconi.
A prime example, he said, was the silence of the media when Senator Marcello 
Dell'Utri, a founder-member of Berlusconi's Forza Italia party and a close 
friend and political adviser to the prime minister for the last 20 years, 
was sentenced to nine years in prison last December for collusion with the 
Mafia.
RAI journalists typically practice "self-censorship", and when they do not, 
they are silenced, said Travaglio, adding that the sacking of well-known and 
highly respected journalists like Enzo Biagi, Michele Santoro and Massimo 
Fini served as a warning for their younger, more inexperienced co-workers.
When it comes to news coverage, "Italian television is the worst in the 
Western world," he concluded.
This stance is shared by Paolo Sylos Labini, a professor of political 
economy at the University of Rome. "There is no real freedom, only a false, 
surface freedom," he said, comparing Italy to the least developed countries 
in this regard, while reactions are "weak, slow and delayed."
He recalled that "Berlusconi stated with brutal honesty that he controls the 
journalists," officially in the case of those who work in his newspapers and 
indirectly in the case of others.
"In Italy, there is a custom of not sticking your neck out, of avoiding 
controversy," he remarked. But fortunately, he added, this does not hold 
true across the board, because "there are also some courageous individuals 
with integrity."
Italy is the only country where in addition to a reporters union, there is 
also a national association of journalists, in which membership is mandatory 
and gained by writing an entrance exam, and facilitated by having the right 
connections. This institution was established by a 1925 law passed during 
the regime of fascist dictator Benito Mussolini (1922-1943).
"The association is a corporate instrument that does nothing whatsoever to 
foster the freedom of journalists," said Tranfaglia.
But according to Sylos Labini, "the problem is not the association, but the 
people, and if they are sheep, then they will always be sheep regardless of 
the nature of the organisation."
In Italy, he said, "there is a very widespread automatic reflex: servility."
Sylos Labini believes, nevertheless, that improvement is possible, because 
among the country's reporters, "there is an honourable and very active 
minority, and it is growing."
"Some are opportunists, but at times there are truths that no one will write 
about, because they know that their editors will not publish them," he said.
While certain events in the past drew the public's attention to the lack of 
freedom of information in Italy, the matter is largely ignored today.
"The media have silenced this issue, because they do not want civil society 
to judge them and criticise them, and because this is a troublesome subject 
for the politicians. And the absence of civil society reinforces the power 
of the government," said Tranfaglia.
He described the current state of the print media as "tragic, because 
advertising (the largest source of profits) is in the hands of Berlusconi 
himself, and the predominance of television has reduced the number of 
readers."
Italy has the lowest rates of newspaper readership in all of Europe, noted 
Tranfaglia, because Italians "mistrust journalists, and at least half of 
them do not have the cultural tools needed to understand the papers." This 
situation owes to the fact that the educational level in Italy is lower than 
in the rest of Europe, he said.
When it comes to the quality of news coverage, he said that the written 
press is undoubtedly superior to television today, but added that aside from 
a few exceptions, newspaper journalists have also gained a "terrible 
reputation" because of their "inadequate cultural formation and frequent 
violations of ethical standards."
They commonly engage in gossip, propaganda or publicity, and violate 
professional codes not only because of negligence, but also at the direction 
of their editors.
Journalists are essentially caught between the "devil" of those in power, 
who consider them dangerous, and the "deep blue sea" of readers who view 
them as vultures or slaves or simply incompetent. "Most of them do not feel 
free," and in fact they are not, concluded Tranfaglia.
Beppe Grillo, a popular Italian comedian "exiled" from the television 
airwaves for his outspoken and biting political satire, has said that the 
Internet is "one of the few small spaces" where people can defend themselves 
from the tyranny of power and express themselves freely.
"For the time being," noted Tranfaglia, "but for how long?" (END/2005)
http://www.ipsnews.net/interna.asp?idnews=29035
 

  he controls the state-run broadcasting corporation RAI."
Questo è tipico del modo di mentire della stampa anglosassone.
Vedi che il giornalista riferisce l'opinione di Travaglio sul fatto che
in Italia ci sarebbe un regime.
Il giornalista non avalla l'opinione di Travaglio, nè la contesta. 
Però la presenta come se fosse una opinione già di per sè moderata:
"...Travaglio non dice, come dicono molti, che c'è un monopolio
dell'informazione, ma c'è un regime..."
Il giornalista inglese si guarda bene dal precisare (e tanto meno lo fa
precisare alla sua "spalla" Marco Travaglio) che il PdC, benchè
proprietario dei Media in questione, in virtù della legge sul conflitto
di interessi, non ricopre cariche direttive in grado di influenzare
alcunchè.
Una omissione non da poco.
Così mentono i giornalisti anglosassoni. Quando vogliono, o debbono.
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