And what do you know..
Influence on the media
Berlusconi's extensive control of the media has been linked to claims that Italy's media shows limited freedom of expression. The Freedom of the Press 2004 Global Survey, an annual study issued by the American organization Freedom House, downgraded Italy's ranking from 'Free' to 'Partly Free' [10] on the basis of Berlusconi's influence over RAI, a ranking which, in "Western Europe" was shared only with Turkey (2005). Reporters Without Borders states that in 2004, "The conflict of interests involving prime minister Silvio Berlusconi and his vast media empire was still not resolved and continued to threaten news diversity".[11] In April 2004, the International Federation of Journalists joined the criticism, objecting to the passage of a law vetoed by Carlo Azeglio Ciampi in 2003, which critics believe is designed to protect Berlusconi's alleged 90% control of national media. [12]
Berlusconi's influence over RAI became evident when in Sofia, Bulgaria he expressed his views on the journalists Enzo Biagi, Michele Santoro [13], and comedian Daniele Luttazzi. Berlusconi said the they "use television as a criminal mean of communication". On August 5, 2002 The board of RAI open a procedure against Santoro due to the content of two transmissions “Sciuscià Edizione Straordinaria”, broadcasted live on May 24, 2002, and the reportage “Sciuscià” aired on July 16, 2002. Enzo Biagi resigned from his position in RAI releasing a statement in which he declared "[...] di non essere stato buttato fuori dalla RAI. Al contrario con la stessa ho raggiunto di mia iniziativa un accordo per me pienamente soddisfacente - I have not been thrown out of RAI. On the contrary with RAI I reached on my own initiative a personally satisfactory agreement..." [14]
The TV broadcasting of a satirical program called Raiot was censored in November 2003 after the comedienne, Sabina Guzzanti, made outspoken criticism of the Berlusconi media empire [15]. Mediaset, one of Berlusconi's companies, sued the Italian state broadcasting company RAI because of the Guzzanti show asking for 20 million Euro for "damages" and from November 2003 she was forced to appear only in theatres around Italy. The details of the event were made into a Michael Moore-style documentary called Viva Zapatero! produced by Guzzanti.
In response to such claims, Mediaset, Berlusconi's television group, has stated that it uses the same criteria as the public (state-owned) television RAI in assigning a proper visibility to all the most important political parties and movements (the so-called 'Par Condicio'). It is also true that while the distribution of newspapers in Italy is lower than most other European countries (100 copies per 1000 individuals compared to 500 per 1000 in Scandinavian countries [16]), the majority of national press, which includes the three largest Italian printed dailies, La Repubblica, Il Corriere della Sera and La Stampa, tends to report independently of the Berlusconi government or (in the case of La Repubblica) to be very openly critical of it. Yet the resignations of the director of Corriere della Sera, Ferruccio de Bortoli, were seen as a grasp for more media control from the government. In fact the FNSI, the Trade Union for Italian Journalists, organized a three day long strike to show support to the former director of the newspaper.
In March 2006, on the Rai Tre, in a television interview with Lucia Annunziata, originally aimed to address Berlusconi's electoral program, the journalist focussed most queries over the possible conflicts of commercial and political interest of Berlusconi and other themes. Berlusconi and Annunziata argued openly because Berlusconi wanted to answer more deeply to a previos question, and as result Berlusconi stormed out of the studio halfway through the show, refusing to answer the persisting questions posed by Annunziata. [17] For the behaviour held in the interview, RAI has been obliged by the Television Authority (which is run by an opposition leader) to take actions against Annunziata as she has violated the par condicio [18]
Buy on AliExpress.com
