In a letter to the Vice-President of the European Commission’s Commissioner for Values and Transparency Vera Jourová, the International and European Federation of Journalists (IFJ-EFJ) join other media freedom organisations in demanding press freedom protection in Italy pointing at a continuous deterioration in the country following the weakening of media control functions and legal abuses against journalists.
Below is the text of the letter:
To: Ms Vera Jourová
Vice-President of Commissioner for Values and Transparency,
European Commission
The independence of the media is a cornerstone of our democracy and one of the founding principles of our Union.
Unfortunately, these values are coming under immense pressure in Italy.
Giorgia Meloni’s government has been increasingly exerting its power over RAI, Italy’s national broadcaster, by ousting managers and TV hosts from their posts and by censoring programmes that are critical of the government. Journalists and newspapers have been consistently attacked by members of the government, shutting down dissenting voices and hindering media independence.
Instances such as the cancellation of Antonio Scurati’s anti-fascist speech on Italy’s Liberation Day or the pressure from the government that forced Carlo Fuortes to resign as RAI’s chief executive are but two of the many egregious attempts to silence dissent and seize control of public media.
Maintaining an environment where media pluralism, investigative journalism, and fact-based reporting can exist unhindered is a sacrosanct prerequisite for a fair and free society. Censorship is a dangerous practice, detrimental to the functioning of a democracy.
We call upon you to launch an investigation into these governmental attempts to capture media and public information, in line with the standards of the European Media Freedom Act and the EU’s fundamental values enshrined in Article 2 of the Treaty on the European Union (TEU).
Moreover, we call upon you to ensure a level playing field during the campaigns for the European Parliament elections to allow for the fair and equal participation of all the different political forces in the media.
Yours sincerely,
European Federation of Journalists (EFJ)
European Movement International (EMI)
Federazione Nazionale Stampa Italiana (FNSI)
International Federation of Journalists (IFJ)
Media Diversity Institute Global (MDI Global)
OBC Transeuropa
Keep up-to-date with publishing news: sign up here for InPubWeekly, our free weekly e-newsletter.
