The need to reform Italy’s public broadcaster RAI and to promote editorial independence in the country’s newspapers were some of the major problems identified by representatives of media and journalists associations with whom an IPI delegation met on Tuesday in Rome.

The visit of the IPI delegation, including IPI Vice-Chairman and former Assistant Managing Editor of the Los Angeles Times, Simon Li, IPI Board member and Editor-in-Chief of the Austrian daily Der Standard, Alexandra Föderl-Schmid, as well as IPI Press Freedom Manager Anthony Mills and Adviser Barbara Trionfi, began yesterday in Rome and will continue until Friday, 12 November.

The purpose of the IPI visit is to assess restrictions on press freedom in Italy and other potential obstacles affecting journalists’ ability to report freely, independently and without undue pressure.

One of the issues analyzed by the delegation is the extent to which Italy’s draft law on wiretaps (DdL Alfano sulle Intercettazioni), under discussion in the Italian Parliament, would represent a threat to press freedom and investigative journalism. The draft bill would impose restrictions on journalists’ ability to publish the transcripts of wiretaps. It includes restrictions on bloggers, requiring them to register with authorities to start any blog or online news platform.  It would also oblige them to publish a response demanded by the subjects of their writings under a strict time limit.

In a meeting with opposition politician and former magistrate Antonio Di Pietro, a strong critic of the draft bill, IPI asked him about suggestions, including by representatives of the Italian government with whom IPI met, that Italian media had sometimes published information gained from wiretaps that did not address issues of public interest but instead violated the privacy of individuals.

“This law is not the right instrument,” Di Pietro replied, expressing concern that the negative impact on the ability to carry out investigations and on the public right to be made aware of those suspected of criminal activities, go beyond any potential positive effects in limiting privacy violations.

“You cannot impose a law that limits investigations in order to protect privacy. Furthermore, the transcripts of a wiretap authorized by a judge have to be deposited and made available to a number of persons related to the accused party. Therefore, 99% of the information published by newspapers as a result of wiretaps is already in the public domain before being published by the media,” Di Pietro added.

Concerns about the draft law on wiretaps were also expressed by Enzo Iacopino, President of the National Council of the Order of Journalists as well as Roberto Natale and Franco Siddi, President and Secretary General of the Italian National Press Federation, respectively.

“The campaign of the Italian Journalists Federation against the draft wiretap bill is aimed at showing to the Italian people the important scandals, which are issues of public interest and which newspapers would not have been able to talk about if the law had already been in place,” Natale told IPI.

Talking to the IPI delegation, Iacopino explained that the role of the Order of Journalists, a statutory organization that supervises journalists’ accreditation, is to ensure the good quality of Italian journalism and respect for professional ethical rules. The Order of Journalists’ accreditation requirement has been criticized for potentially limiting journalists’ ability to practice their craft. Journalists who intend to make their living by that profession must become members of the order by passing a state examination after having practiced the profession for 18 months or having attended one of the university-level journalism schools.

IPI’s meeting with Giorgio van Straten, a member of the board of the Italian public broadcaster, RAI, centered on the issue of the influence of the political parties and the government on the content of RAI’s news programs. Van Straten noted that this issue is not new at RAI, where, already during the “First Republic” before Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi came to power, the public broadcaster’s three television channels were traditionally divided among the three strongest political parties: the Christian Democrats (DC), the Socialists (PSI) and the Communists (PCI).

“It is acceptable that the general direction of the public broadcaster is defined by the Parliament,” said Van Straten, noting that the RAI board is elected by the Parliament according to proportional criteria. “But the board should not have a managerial function.” Currently, the board of RAI nominates all approximately 100 editors and deputy-editors, who are, though informally, chosen on the basis of supposed political affiliation.

Another representative of RAI’s board, Angelo Maria Petroni, whom IPI met with yesterday, took the view that the political influence on the content of RAI’s new programs is not a cause for concern. “If you switch on the television this evening you will see a number of programs that are greatly critical of the current government,” Petroni told IPI. “We cannot deny that RAI’s programs represent a plurality of opinions.”

In the coming days, the IPI delegation will meet the representatives of the most important Italian dailies and news agencies, as well as a representative of the Justice Ministry.

** For further information contact:

Barbara Trionfi
Press Freedom Adviser
International Press Institute (IPI)
Email: [email protected]
Cell: 0043 699 10257062
www.freemedia.at