FROM ROME to Brussels and back again, the controversial issue of press freedom in an Italy governed by media tycoon Silvio Berlusconi seems destined to provoke further tension.
Speaking in Rome last Saturday at a mass demonstration called by the Federation of Italian journalists (FNSI), trade unionist Franco Siddi pointed out that next Wednesday the European Parliament is due to hold a debate on the “State of Media Information in Italy”.
Closer to home, last Saturday’s colourful, noisy and musical protest is likely to raise the political temperature even more following a remarkable “intervention” by the editor of RAI 1 news, Augusto Minzolini. The flags were still waving and the band was still playing in Piazza Del Popolo, site of a protest in defence of press freedom attended by upwards of 100,000, when Mr Minzolini opted to address the nation from the pulpit of the state broadcaster’s main prime-time television news bulletin.
"To demonstrate is not only legitimate, it is also healthy for a democracy," said Mr Minzolini, adding: "but in a country where in the last three months people as different as (prime minister) Berlusconi, (ex-Fiat president) Gianni Agnelli, (industrialist) Carlo De Benedetti, the editor of Catholic daily L'Avennire, the editor of La Repubblicaand many others have all finished up in the media meat-slicer, it seems absurd to me to suggest that press freedom is jeopardised."
No sooner said than a new controversy was guaranteed with critics of Mr Berlusconi pointing out that Mr Minzolini’s use of the prime-time news bulletin was a perfect example of just how press freedom in Italy is indeed threatened. Appointed this summer as head of news at RAI 1, Mr Minzolini is seen by critics as the perfect example of the “servile journalist” much desired by the Berlusconi regime.
Not that Mr Minzolini's words did much to dampen enthusiasm in a packed Piazza Del Popolo where demonstrators, baking under a warm autumnal sun, were addressed not by politicians but by public figures such as the award-winning anti-Mafia writer Roberto Saviano. Constrained to live under 24-hour police protection following the publication of his bestseller, Gomorrah, Saviano paid tribute to those journalists who have been killed or threatened by organised crime: "The press freedom that we want to defend is the right to work in a serene, peaceful manner, to be able to report stories without having to fear (violent) reprisals. You see, the Mafia and mafiosi have sullied the word 'honour'. But here, in this piazza, we have shown that this country actually cares about its honour."
Inevitably, much of the protest was directed at Mr Berlusconi with many protesters carrying placards that read “Scoundrel”, in reference to the prime minister’s description of his media critics.
While the demonstration bore a very clear Democratic Party (PD) stamp, it was also the occasion for embattled dailies such as La Repubblicaand L'Unita, both of which have been sued by the prime minister, to defend themselves publicly.
Actress Stefania Sandrelli, film-makers Ettore Scola, the Taviani brothers and Nanni Moretti, and nearly all the senior centre-left opposition were among those to attend the protest.
From the platform, however, via a message, there came an unexpectedly harsh justification of the protest from weekly religious news magazine, Famiglia Cristiana. Responding to Mr Berlusconi's description of the protest as a "farce", Famiglia Cristianacommented: "It is diabolic to try and make people believe that this demonstration is a farce. Whomsoever says that, does so in bad faith and they know it."