European Commission president trying not to stir the pot on media freedom, four officials said.
POLITICO – JUNE 16, 2024 – BY CLOTHILDE GOUJARD
– Rome’s rule of law slipping
Italy has seen pressure on media freedom as well as LGBTQ+ and women’s rights under Meloni’s far-right government. EU and international partners, including Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau at last year’s G7 summit, have criticized moves by the government to change rules on legal guardianship for same-sex parents. This year’s G7 summit exposed new controversy around the Meloni government’s removal of a reference to “safe and legal” abortions from the final declaration.
Press associations have dialed up their warnings that government interference and lawsuits targeting journalists have become more common in the last two years. Italy also dropped five slots to the 46th position in the latest World Press Freedom Index by Reporters Without Borders (RSF).
The European Union’s chief rule-of-law official, Věra Jourová, said this month that the European Commission is closely following “negative trends” on media freedom in Italy alongside other countries like Slovakia.
“I just want to say, specifically about this media situation in Italy, but also elsewhere, in Slovakia and some other states, that we are monitoring different negative trends and that we are sorry that the Media Freedom Act is not [enforceable] yet,” Jourová told journalists in a briefing in Brussels, responding to a question from POLITICO on media freedom in Italy.
A Commission spokesperson later pushed back on POLITICO’s reporting of the comment, saying in a statement by spokesperson Christian Wigand that “it is not about singling out any country. We monitor the situation in Italy as we do in all EU member states in the context of the annual rule of law report. This is what [Vice President] Jourová was referring to.”
The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) and five other nonprofits called on Jourová in May to investigate Meloni government’s interference in the media.
“There was a worry that the Commission will not take it seriously enough, that there won’t be any sanctions,” Renate Schroeder, the director of EFJ, said at an event in Brussels last week.
“We know very much that the president of the European Commission at the moment is playing, in my mind, a dangerous game with some party,” Schroeder said, referring to von der Leyen’s overtures toward Meloni.
ABSTRACT FROM DIGITAL NEWS REPORT REUTERS 2024
” Takeovers are also occurring among centre-right newspapers. Antonio Angelucci, a right-wing MP, businessman with stakes in private healthcare. and owner of the conservative papers Libero and il Tempo, has recently bought the newspaper Il Giornale from the Berlusconi family and, at the time of writing, is in negotiations for the acquisition of AGI the second-largest news agency in Italy, previously owned by the energy conglomerate Eni. The possible takeover of AGI has also sparked concerns and led to strikes among AGI journalists. The closure of news kiosks, the Italian outdoor stands where print newspapers have traditionally been sold, also testifies to the severities of the crisisi of italian newspaper industry “.
( TRAD. Anche tra i giornali di centro-destra si verificano acquisizioni. Antonio Angelucci, deputato di destra, uomo d’affari con partecipazioni nella sanità privata e proprietario dei giornali conservatori Libero e il Tempo, ha recentemente acquistato il quotidiano Il Giornale dalla famiglia Berlusconi e, al momento in cui scriviamo, è in trattative per l’acquisizione dell’AGI, la seconda agenzia di stampa in Italia, precedentemente di proprietà del conglomerato energetico Eni. La possibile acquisizione dell’AGI ha suscitato preoccupazioni e ha portato a scioperi tra i giornalisti dell’AGI. Anche la chiusura delle edicole, i chioschi all’aperto dove tradizionalmente si vendono i giornali cartacei, testimonia la gravità della crisi dell’industria italiana dei quotidiani).
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