Dear President of the European Parliament Roberta Metsola,
Dear President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen,
We are writing to express our serious concerns about the decline of media freedom in Italy and to bring to your attention the results of our recent advocacy mission, in the hope that you can urge the next Commission and the new Parliament to urgently address the issue.
The Media Freedom Rapid Response – MFRR is a European consortium that tracks, monitors and responds to violations of press and media freedom in EU member states and candidate countries. This project offers legal support, public advocacy, research and information to protect journalists and media professionals.
Last May, the MFRR consortium conducted an urgent mission to Italy . Our delegation examined three issues: the unprecedented political interference in the public service Radiotelevisione Italiana (RAI), the legal threats by members of the government against critical journalists and the potential takeover of the AGI news agency by the deputy Antonio Angelucci. Our representatives met with officials from various state bodies, journalists from various publications, trade unions and civil society stakeholders to discuss the erosion of media freedom in Italy. Unfortunately, the European consortium did not have the opportunity to meet any representatives of the governing coalition as all meeting requests were rejected or ignored.
The delegation assessed that RAI is currently subject to an increasing and unprecedented level of political interference from the current government, causing a progressive loss of independence of the public service. Although the politicization of RAI is not a new phenomenon, discussions with RAI journalists confirmed that recent developments signal a level of pressure never experienced before, a reduction in editorial independence and an increase in the phenomenon of self-censorship.
The changes within the RAI Board of Directors last year, dictated by political will, combined with the summoning of Sigfrido Ranucci for intimidating purposes by the Parliamentary Commission to supervise RAI broadcasts in 2023, as well as the most recent and sudden cancellation of the anti-fascist monologue by the author Antonio Scurati and the subsequent cancellation of Serena Bortone’s broadcast journalist who was supposed to host Scurati, confirm the unprecedented trend of censoring independent and critical voices.
Over the past year and a half, Italy has seen an increase in the number of legal threats made by high-level public figures, with the specific aim of silencing government critics. In particular, two hearings are scheduled for next month for vexatious complaints initiated by leading exponents of the current government: the first hearing of the complaint for criminal defamation initiated by Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni against the newspaper Domani and the fourth hearing of the complaint for criminal defamation initiated by the Minister of Infrastructure and Transport Matteo Salvini against the Italian writer Roberto Saviano . In this context, the bill supported by the government coalition and aimed at reforming the provisions on defamation, known as the Balboni bill, does not decriminalize defamation and disproportionately increases fines against journalists, provisions which are in conflict with international and European standards on freedom of expression.
Finally, the delegation fears that the acquisition of one of the main news agencies in the country, the AGI (Italian Journalistic Agency), by the deputy Antonio Angelucci – which already controls several important newspapers – will constitute a threat to the future of AGI’s editorial independence and reduce media pluralism in the country.
The MFRR network will publish the mission’s final report in the coming weeks. On 17 May 2024, during our press conference in Rome, we presented some recommendations to support the necessary reforms that would align Italian provisions with international and EU standards on pluralism and freedom of expression:
- initiate a comprehensive reform of the legislation regulating Italian public broadcasting, in line with article 5 of the European Regulation on Media Freedom;
- implement a reform of the provisions on defamation, giving priority to the decriminalization of defamation and the reform of the civil code. This reform should align Italian law with the EU Anti-SLAPP Directive, the EU Anti-SLAPP Recommendation and the Council of Europe Anti-SLAPP Recommendation, as well as international standards on freedom of expression;
- if the offer for the acquisition of the AGI news agency materializes, the regulatory authorities AGCOM (Communications Guarantee Authority) and AGCM (Competition and Market Guarantor Authority) should conduct an in-depth and transparent assessment and consider the impact on media pluralism, editorial independence and conflict of interest, in accordance with the European Regulation on Freedom of the Media.
We urge the European Parliament and the European Commission to take into account the results of our mission and to work together to ensure that the next European Parliament and the next Commission pay due attention to the critical situation in Italy and give the right priority to the protection of media freedom across the EU.
Dear President von der Leyen, we suggest that your services integrate these findings into the Rule of Law Report 2024, which is expected to be published on 24 July. Media freedom is one of the four pillars of the rule of law and you know better than anyone what is at stake when media freedom is not guaranteed. We owe all this not only to journalists and media professionals in Italy, who fight for their right and duty to inform independently and without fear of undue political interference, but also to the public’s right to be informed.
We trust in your commitment to a free, independent and pluralist media landscape in Italy and throughout the European Union. The future of Italian democracy depends on these premises.
Signed,
The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ)
Balkans Caucasus Transeuropa Observatory (OBCT)
ARTICLE 19
European Center for Press and Media Freedom (ECPMF)
International Press Institute (IPI)
This letter was produced as part of the Media Freedom Rapid Response (MFRR), a Europe-wide mechanism which tracks, monitors, and responds to violations of press and media freedom in EU Member States and candidate countries.
