You are currently browsing the tag archive for the 'freedom of press' tag.
The Financial Times writes about Italy and its Prime Minister, comparing the freedom of press of the Bel Paese to North Korea.
Berlusconi enjoys state aid
By Guy Dinmore in Rome
Published: October 18 2008 03:00 | Last updated: October 18 2008 03:00
Banks and markets are tumbling but the crisis is benefiting Silvio Berlusconi, the Italian premier, whose treatment in parts of the media is nearing North Korean levels of adulation as his government exerts an authority not seen for decades.
The prime minister declared on the front pages of Italian newspapers that “state aid, which until yesterday was considered a sin, is now absolutely essential”, along with promises of money for the car industry and other enterprises.
Ilvo Diamanti, a sociologist, said: “Disgraced in the 1980s, unnameable in the 90s, the state is back . . . as guarantor, saviour, exhibited like an icon, a sacred image.”
Italy’s prime minister and the law
The fruits of office
The government drafts new laws to constrain the magistracy
SILVIO BERLUSCONI is a man of perseverance. Two months after winning the Italian election, he is starting to deal with the judicial system, and those working in it, as robustly as when he was last in power, in 2001-06. During the campaign he said prosecutors should undergo checks on their mental health. Now more attacks on the magistracy and bespoke laws to protect himself and his business interests seem to be priorities once again.
On June 17th Renato Schifani, speaker of the Senate, read a letter from Mr Berlusconi backing an amendment proposed by two senators that would stop for a year all trials for crimes committed before June 2002, except for those the government deems most serious. Some critics say this is unconstitutional, as it interferes with the requirement that trials should be of reasonable duration and that due legal process must be observed. Mr Berlusconi is on trial in Milan accused of judicial corruption, along with a British lawyer who helped to establish a secret offshore network of companies for Mr Berlusconi’s business empire. Now nearing its end, this trial would be among those to be halted. The amendment was passed by the Senate on June 18th.
In his letter, Mr Berlusconi claimed that many cases have been brought against him by extreme left-wing magistrates for political ends. He has also told Mr Schifani that he wants legislation to suspend trials involving the holders of Italy’s highest offices of state. Mr Schifani was behind a similar law in 2003 that was later ruled unconstitutional.
Here is what John Hooper writes about the italian journalist Marco Travaglio and his shocking behaviour, reporting a fact.
Actually something shocking and strange in Italy.
Compromised by compromise
The opposition in Italy has joined the chorus attacking a critic of the new Senate speaker. Has it learned nothing from past dealings with Berlusconi?
It hasn’t taken long for the effects of Silvio Berlusconi’s victory to be felt on the Italian media. On Sunday, the presenter of a current affairs talk show stood before the cameras of the RAI, Italy’s public broadcaster, and asked the nation for forgiveness.
“[Giving] offence is not my style,” Fabio Fazio told viewers. “So, when that happens, I can only apologise.”
It was a scene worthy of the cultural revolution.
Fazio was referring to an episode the night before, which occurred while he was interviewing a fellow journalist, Marco Travaglio.
One of Berlusconi’s first appointments on taking office was that of Senate speaker. This is a key job in Italy because the occupant is second in precedence only to the President of the Republic. If the latter dies – and the present incumbent, Giorgio Napolitano, is 82 years old – then the speaker of the Senate becomes head of state.
Another proof of freedom of press. Censorship? In Italy? No way.
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.
Your comments!