Freedom of press in Italy

Next three October, the Italian association of journalists will hold, with the support of hundred of thousand of people, from simple citizen to 10 Nobel Prize winners, from all over the world, will demonstrate for freedom of press in Italy.

The recent events, silence of the Berlusconi’s affairs on public television while the world press was writing dozens of articles, (not to talk about his private channels), attacks to the director of the catholic press, critical of the immoral behaviour of the PM, misrepresenting the documents, taking to court magazines who criticize him, are at the origin of this protest.

Yesterday, asked about such demonstration, he declared that “it is an real joke, in Italy there is more freedom of Press than in any other country”.

Regrettably he forgot that Freedom House, in its 2009 report, placed Italy at the 71st rank out of 195, the first in the category of countries with “partially free press”, just before Turkey: the only two western European countries without “free press”.

The same day he made his statement, the Economist wrote : “Since Mussolini, this is the first Italian government interfering with media in such an clear and alarming way. Journalists and the other Italuans, have thousand reasons to protest”. But this is a communist periodical, it is well known.