Wonderful, another proof of freedom of press. Censorship? Here? In Italy? Are you kidding??

Italians do not even know what censorship is, or what it means. In fact most citizens take for granted that censorship is the shadow of journalism and journalism the shadow of censorship.

On Saturday evening, guest of the TV show “Che Tempo Che Fa”, the Italian journalist Marco Travaglio did something atrocious and unpardonable, he did his job. He informed.

Result: a ruckus.

Forgetting that in Italy freedom of press and information have been abolished, off-the-record, Travaglio talked about Italian President of the Senate Renato Schifani’s relationship with people sentenced for mafia.

In any democratic Country (where the word “democracy” really means something) you would have expected a ruckus because the second Office of the State had relationships and went into business with “disreputable people”, but not in Italy. No.

Naturally the pandemonium and indignation are due to the journalist who madly thought that in Italy you can be a journalist without being in some politician’s pay. Maybe we are expecting too much from a Country where except for few and isolated cases the words “independent” and “journalism” are never pronounced together.

The main problem is that TV is controlled by politics and politicians, so it does not seem strange that after the “criminal” instalment both right and left parties walked arms in arms brandishing the arm of censorship. You never know, once it can be you the one a journalist writes or talks about, but another time it can be me, so it is better to apply the well-known Italian philosophy “I give you a hand and you give me a hand”.

A bipartisan coalition against independent press.

The only exception to this army of cowards has been Antonio Di Pietro, leader of Italia Dei Valori, who seems to be the only one left who knows what democracy and freedom of press are.

And the public opinion? As usual in these kinds of situation Italian citizens are sleeping their soundest sleep. Will they ever wake up?