If a minister speaks on TV about the institutional activities of his department, should the time dedicated to him be measured for the purposes of equal conditions, and therefore compensated by interventions from opposition representatives? It is one of the main questions around which the discussion today, 9 April, in the Rai Supervisory Commission is developing. The amendments, wanted by the centre-right, were not signed by Forza Italia, which is asking its majority partners for clarification. The centre-left, however, is closing ranks and fears the risk of “censorship”. At 12, the commission met, where the admission to the vote of all the amendments to the Agcom resolution was announced. The offices that carried out the preliminary examination for the president of the commission, the 5-star Barbara Floridia, did not find any technical-legal reasons to block the amendments. At 8pm, there should be a second call for the commissioners. In the interval between the two meetings, it is probable that work will be done on a reformulation of the amendments – with the Forzisti in the role of mediators between the majority and the opposition – starting from 4.7, the one on the presence of government representatives on TV.
Azione exponent Mariastella Gelmini officially asked for the reformulation in the commission: «There is a risk of expansion of the government’s presence on TV with the amendment presented by Filini (Brothers of Italy). The presence of the government must be limited to exceptional events.” Not only. The former minister raised the fear of a “penalization of the smaller parties, the risk that the talkshows will not host all the political forces and therefore we asked for guarantees on this too”, also hypothesizing a “draw for the political stands”. Some more details on the negotiation came from the words of Maurizio Gasparri. The Italian group leader, who sits on the commission, said regarding the qualitative evaluation of the time slots in which the various politicians are broadcast that «the problem is a complication for all TV channels, not just for Rai. If we want to abolish them, let’s abolish them, but I am in favor of trying to implement them at least on an experimental basis.” And again, focusing on the theme of the RaiNews channel, Gasparri would have commented: «Should we put the theme song at the rallies? Let’s put it on. But the problem is RaiNews’ low ratings.”
The content of the controversial amendments and Forza Italia’s hesitations
The political controversy was sparked by a series of amendments presented by the centre-right to the resolution on equal conditions developed by Agcom. An operation that brought the opposition together – at a time when the battle over the administrative elections had disintegrated them – and aroused discontent among the majority. Forza Italia did not hide its skepticism about some amendments. Mainly the one which asks for the exclusion of “representatives of the institutions” from the application of the level playing field if they intervene “on matters relating to the exclusive exercise of the institutional functions carried out”. Fratelli d’Italia, Lega and Noi moderates also propose to «without prejudice to the principle of journalistic “newsability” and the need to guarantee citizens timely information on institutional and government activities». According to various sources, Antonio Tajani’s party would oppose this change because the ministries occupied by the League would have more relevance to issues that intersect with the electoral campaign for the European elections.
Another amendment of this contested mini reform of the rules on equal conditions is the one that aims to replace the adjective “equal” with “balanced” in the passage in which the Agcom resolution talks about the presence of political competitors. The majority then asks that attendance and interviews be no longer considered taking into account the “qualitative” aspect, but only from the “quantitative” point of view. That is, disconnect the assessments from the hourly time slots and Auditel data. Finally, we want to delete paragraph 4-bis: «Where Rai broadcasts live broadcasts of conferences or electoral rallies of a political entity, it must guarantee the broadcasting of live broadcasts also of other competing entities, in order to guarantee the equal treatment. In particular, on the last day of the electoral campaign, live broadcasts will only be permitted if adequate spaces are guaranteed for all competing political subjects.”
The alert of the Pd members in the commission on the exchange vote in Palermo
The representatives of the Democratic Party who sit on the Rai Supervisory Commission, shortly before the convocation, released a note on the case of the Fratelli d’Italia exponent Girolamo “Mimmo” Russo who, in the Palermo area, is accused of vote-swapping. «We are always guaranteeists and we are certain that the FdI members of the commission, as well as the group leaders Tommaso Foti and Lucio Malan, will intervene today to forcefully ask the public service news programs not to hide the news and to provide information on the exponent’s case of their party arrested for mafia and vote swapping. Consistency first of all given that in recent days it was they who announced an elusive “new governance of Rai and the news where the news is not silenced and is given in compliance with pluralism and the right to report”. We are certain that this will happen today.”
