Italy

(RSF/IFEX) – On 12 August 2002, RSF expressed its outrage over the imprisonment of former journalist Stefano Surace, aged 69, for supposed press crimes committed more than 30 years ago. The case is “doubly scandalous,” RSF Secretary-General Robert Ménard said in a letter to Italian President Carlo Azeglio Ciampi. “To sentence journalists to imprisonment for […]

(RSF/IFEX) – Opposition journalist Michele Santoro’s political television show “Sciuscia” will be dropped by state broadcaster RAI in October unless RAI’s governing board opposes the decision when it meets on 30 August 2002. On 19 April, Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi severely criticised Santoro’s show and that of his colleague Enzo Biagi (“Il Fatto”) and implicitly […]

(IPI/IFEX) – The following is a 29 June 2002 IPI press release: IPI CRITICISES PRESSURE ON THE ITALIAN MEDIA AND NOTES AN EXISTING FAILURE TO KEEP POLITICS AT ARMS-LENGTH The International Press Institute (IPI), the global network of editors, media executives and leading journalists, is deeply critical of the treatment of journalists Enzo Biagi and […]

(IFJ/IFEX) – The following is a 25 June 2002 IFJ media release: European Journalists Condemn “Political Victimisation” Of Journalists at Italian Television The European Federation of Journalists today protested after management at the Italian public television RAI decided to axe programmes made by Enzo Biagi and Michele Santoro, two journalists accused in April by Prime […]

(RSF/IFEX) – On 24 April 2002, RSF expressed alarm over Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi’s strong criticism of several journalists from the state-owned RAI television network and called on President Carlo Azeglio Ciampi to veto a law being pushed through Parliament. The organisation noted that freedom of information was in danger in Italy. “The fears […]

(RSF/IFEX) – The following is an RSF open letter to Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, dated 14 February 2002: Open letter to Mr Silvio Berlusconi, prime minister Mr Prime Minister, Italy is on the verge of becoming the only European Union member state and the only sizable Western democracy where all audio-visual media outlets, both […]

(CPJ/IFEX) – In a 2 August 2001 letter to Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, CPJ strongly condemned the brutal attacks by police officers and demonstrators on journalists covering the Group of Eight (G-8) summit of the world’s industrialised nations in Genoa from 20 to 22 July. CPJ is also gravely concerned that official Italian orders compelling […]

(RSF/IFEX) – The following is a 24 July 2001 RSF press release: ITALY: G-8 Summit in Genoa At least sixteen journalists seriously injured, counter-summit’s media centre ransacked, detentions, confiscated materials, threats: RSF denounces the unprecedented attacks on the press In a letter to the president of the Council, Silvio Berlusconi, and the minister of the […]

(IFJ/IFEX) – The following is a 25 May 2001 IFJ media release: IFJ Backs Call for Journalistic Freedom To Combat Concentration and Political Bias in Italy The threat to independent journalism posed by media concentration and a poisonous political climate have led to new calls for journalists in Italy to resist all forms of censorship, […]

(IFJ/IFEX) – The following is a 14 May 2001 IFJ media release: Democracy and Media Concentration: Journalists Demand New Rules After Italian Elections The International Federation of Journalists and its regional group the European Federation of Journalists today said that media bias in Italy in favour of media tycoon Silvio Berlusconi provided “compelling evidence that […]

(RSF/IFEX) – In letters to Silvio Berlusconi, head of the House of Liberties (CDL) centre-right coalition, and Francesco Rutelli, head of the Olive Tree centre-left coalition, RSF asked the two candidates for the presidency of the Italian Council to clarify their intentions with regard to the means of upholding the independence and pluralism of audio-visual […]

(RSF/IFEX) – In a letter to Italian Minister of the Interior Enzo Bianco, RSF protested the police assault on Claudio Lippera, a journalist from the daily “Il Messaggero”, on 16 December 2000. “It is unacceptable that a journalist covering a demonstration would deliberately be struck, even after presenting his press card,” said Robert Ménard, the […]

(RSF/IFEX) – In a letter to Italian Justice Minister Oliviero Diliberto, RSF expressed its concern following the conclusion of the trial of the presumed murderers of Ilaria Alpi, an Italian journalist who was assassinated in Somalia in 1994, along with her cameraman, Miran Hrovatin. On the occasion of the sixth anniversary of this murder, RSF […]

(RSF/IFEX) – RSF is expressing its concern further to the recent arrests of and attacks against Turkish journalists in Rome. According to RSF’s information, on 16 November 1998, Adnan Gerger and Fatih Cotur, reporter and cameraman, respectively, for the private ATV station, Göksel Polat and Hakan Dikiciler, reporter and cameraman for the private Kanal D […]

(IPI/IFEX) – IPI is strongly condemning the beating of Turkish journalists in Rome on Saturday, 14 November 1998. According to IPI’s information, several Turkish journalists and cameramen – in Italy to cover events surrounding the arrest on 12 November of Abdullah Ocalan, leader of the Kudistan Workers Party (PKK) – were beaten by Kurdish demonstrators […]

(RSF/IFEX) – According to reports, on 2 April 1998, Daniele Genco of the ANSA press agency, Fabrizzio Ravelli of “La Repubblica”, Jenner Meletti of “L’Unita”, Pablo Griseri of “Il Manifesto”, and Claudio Papi, a Reuters photographer, were violently attacked by a dozen or so supporters of Edoardo Massari, an anarchist leader, while covering Massari’s funeral […]