If you are American or you are used to watch satellite TV you will probably know a man called Jon Stewart.

He is the host of The Daily News With Jon Stewart, a funny and smart satirical news show on Comedy Central.

For the length of the entire show he uses all the arms that satire can offer. Commenting on the latest news he does not save anybody: democrats, republicans, government, journalists, whatever concerns politics and recent events. Nobody is safe. Jon Stewart does not have scruples towards President George W Bush or towards the most important political personalities like Dick Cheney or Hillary Clinton.

The Daily News is not an exception among the American TV shows, there is The Colbert Report or historic shows like the Late Night with Conan O’Brien, the Late Show with David Letterman or the Saturday Night Live, they constantly direct audience’s attention to the behaviours of their politicians and their Government. Great professionals who use satire to amuse the spectator and, at the same time, to inform him. In fact they just do what they are supposed to do, satire is fun and information.

Bush’ Administration doesn’t seem an example of liberalism, but they would never try to cancel one of those shows that have demonstrated, in the course of the years, not to be that indulgent towards them.

So the question is: Mr Jon Stewart have you ever thought to move to Italy?

You could teach something about satire and freedom of expression to Italian politicians and, above all, to the Italian society that often accepts the interference of political interests on the freedom to talk and think too gladly.

The history of the Italian TV can boast several “desaparecidos”, comedians who have tried to use satire in the way their American colleagues do every night.

In 1986 Beppe Grillo appeared in a prime time entertainment show called Fantastico 7. At that time there was a socialist Government ruled by Bettino Craxi who, a few years later, had to escape to Tunisia for not getting a first-class ticket to jail under the accusation of corruption. From Prime Minister to Fugitive. During the show, about Craxi’s visit in China, Grillo said: “If the Chinese are all socialists, whom do they steal from?”. From that night he has been publicly banished from television. When in 1993 he reappeared on TV he obtained a record share of 16 million viewers, but in spite of this he was later banned definitively from television. Desaparecido.

On March 2001 Daniele Luttazzi hosted a show called “Satyricon”, on David Latterman’s wake. He invited the journalist Marco Travaglio to talk about a book he had written about the origin of Silvio Berlusconi’s fortune. Documents in hand, the journalist raised doubts about a possible relationship of Silvio Berlusconi (at that time in the running for the premiership) and his close friend Marcello Dell’Utri with Mafia.

What has been disconcerting about the whole story is that not only Silvio Berlusconi and his allies attacked Luttazzi and Travaglio as predictable (sources tell us Berlusconi is not a big fan of freedom of expression and information or, more in general, of freedom) but also left parties did.

A comedian and a journalist guilty for having done their job.

In a so-called democratic Country is it normal that the only thing both political alliances agree about is the fight against satire and information?

And why do most politicians and “Italian sages” agree that satire can not be used as a way to inform citizens because in that case it would be a way to deal with politics? Since when? Why then in the USA, France or Spain satire is continuously used not only to amuse but also to inform people, to make them aware about what is really going on in their Country, in their own society, in the world and inside the “Palaces of Power”?

On April 2002 in Sofia Berlusconi, become Prime Minister, hurled what has been lately called “the Bulgarian Diktat”; he said that Daniele Luttazzi and the two journalists Enzo Biagi and Michele Santoro had made a criminal use of the public television and he added that it would have been a precise duty of new RAI (Italian Public Radio-Television network) management not to permit again the repetition of those events. From that moment on the two journalists and the comedian have not worked on TV for five years, until the political climate changed a little.

Daniele Luttazzi has been allowed to enter a television studio again in 2007 with “Decameron” on La7. The show obtained a great success of audience, although it was a late night show, but it was cancelled after just five instalments. Why? In the sixth instalment the comedian should have talked about the latest Pope Benedict XVI encyclical. Desaparecido. Again. Arrivederci Luttazzi.

In fact the comedian is a recidivist of TV censorship: in 1989 (Craxi’s era) he was banished from a show because during the rehearsals he made a joke about the socialist party. And in the same year he prepared two sketches (“Marzullo interviews Hitler” and “Marzullo interviews Jesus”) for the show Banane on Telemontecarlo network, but the producer decided to pay him for the work but not to broadcast the sketches.

In 2003 Sabina Guzzanti wrote and featured Raiot, on Rai3. Despite the big success of share, after just one single instalment: desaparecida. Show cancelled.

After lampooning Silvio Berlusconi, at that time Prime Minister, she was sued for “lies and insinuation”. By the Prime Minister.

In the suing document satire was defined as “that thing which tends to minimize and to make a politician likeable, to diminish the social tensions”, this was the basis to prove that the show was a direct political attack and not satire.

“That thing which tends to minimize and to make a politician likeable”? Likeable? Satire must make a politician likeable? Where did they find this illuminating concept? In some dictator’s memories maybe?

Probably only in Italy satire is the most dreadful danger for democracy.

According to the Italian philosophy satire, as journalism and information, must drop the pants and sell itself to the most powerful man, no matter which party he is from.

All those comedians’ luck is simply to be brilliant comedians. They do not need television to work, they have theatres. Theatres that people crowd to listen to them.

But unfortunately TV remains the most powerful way to inform citizens, millions of people are not used to go to theatre or read newspapers and books, and prefer to stay at home and watch what TV offers them every night.

Most Italian public opinion is not scandalized or protests for the attacks of politics and “strong powers” against satire and freedom of expression. It is considered a routine, something that must happen if you are so imprudent as to go “against” the power and who has got it.

Can Italy call itself a real Democratic Country if it allows that “diktats” of politicians stop freedom of expression and information?

Jon Stewart be our guest and please make yourself at home.

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