Media News - Monday, October 05, 2009
Thousands protest threats to Italian press freedom
The debate over press freedom in Italy is growing as thousands of Italians rallied in Rome on Saturday and the European Parliament gears up for a discussion of the issue in a plenary session this Wednesday. Organisers put the attendance at Saturday's Rome protest at 300,000 while the police estimated the crowds to number 60,000. The event is certain increase the pressure on Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, long accused of suffocating freedom of speech in the Mediterranean country. Unlike before however, Mr Berlusconi's summer attacks on domestic and foreign press appear to have reached a tipping point. July and August saw the premier hit back at news outlets covering the sleaze scandal centred around lavish weekend parties held at his Sardinian villa, to which celebrities and call-girls were invited. Mr Berlusconi denies he paid anyone to sleep with him, and is suing the left-leaning Italian newspapers La Repubblica and L'Unita, as well as others in France and Spain. The event was attended by numerous high-profile figures from the film and literary worlds, including Gomorra author Roberto Saviano, and received a strong showing from senior opposition politicians. The prime minister called the protests were "a farce" and said that press freedom is greater in Italy than in any other Western nation. But this view is not shared by everyone. Democracy promotion NGO Freedom House has downgraded Italy to the "partly free" category in its annual survey this year and placed it 73rd out of 195 counties. Media watchdog group Reporters Without Borders says the press in Italy is the least free in the European Union. (EU Observer)
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