ROME — Journalists at Italy’s state broadcaster RAI went on strike Monday protesting what their union termed “suffocating control” by Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s administration, which it claimed was “attempting to turn RAI into a mouthpiece for the government.”
It’s an Italian government tradition to appoint loyalists to top jobs at RAI — but since Meloni took power in 2022, high-profile presenters and managers have gone so far as to quit the broadcaster due to what they say is government interference.
Meanwhile, criticism has intensified over attempts by the Italian government to silence journalists with legal action, along with proposals by Meloni’s Brothers of Italy party to increase sanctions for defamation.
Last month, a prominent author accused RAI of censorship after the reading of an antifascist monologue was abruptly canceled “for editorial reasons.” The monologue had been scheduled to be broadcast on the RAI 3 TV channel on April 25, the public holiday that celebrates Italy’s freedom from fascism in 1945.
Usigrai, the major journalists’ union at the broadcaster, said in a statement on Monday: “We strike to defend the autonomy and independence of the public radio and television service from the pervasive control of information spaces by politicians.”
The broadcaster countered that it is “committed to safeguarding the values of pluralism and freedom of expression.”
The Meloni government, which declined to comment for this story, has been accused of making strategic use of defamation lawsuits to silence media dissent, including complaints against newspaper Domani and journalist Roberto Saviano.
Meloni’s brother-in-law and cabinet minister Francesco Lollobrigida filed a criminal complaint against a TV commentator on La7, an independent channel, for saying that Lollobrigida spoke “like a Gauleiter,” referring to regional leaders of Adolf Hitler’s party.
Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani of the center-right Forza Italia party, who formerly worked as a RAI journalist, said there a political presence has always been present there. Tajani told a press conference on Monday that he left RAI years ago because the Italian Communist Party was signing up members inside its recording studios.
He added: “It doesn’t seem to me that there is a repression of press freedom at RAI … I don’t see any harmful situation there or penalization of those who are in opposition today.”
Defamation in Italy can be considered a crime punishable by up to six years in jail. The constitutional court has ordered a reform of defamation law to end the criminalization of journalists — but Meloni’s government postponed a parliamentary debate on that bill.
Italy has dropped five slots to 46th in the latest World Press Freedom Index by Reporters Without Borders (RSF).
The RSF report cited “Giorgia Meloni’s Italy” as an example of political groups “orchestrating the takeover of the media ecosystem … where a member of the ruling parliamentary coalition is trying to acquire the second biggest news agency (AGI).”
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