Italy: Freedom safeguards public service media ‘urgently needed’

Rome: The European Commission has raised the alarm about the independence of Italy’s public service media and Rome’s failure to reform the country’s strict defamation law, which is widely seen as silencing government critics.

In a report issued on Wednesday EU officials identified “persisting challenges related to the effectiveness of [the] governance and funding” of Italy’s public service media, urging Giorgia Meloni’s government to guarantee both its independence and its funding.

The findings are contained in more than 1,000 pages of reports on the rule of law in the EU’s 27 member states, an annual exercise launched five years ago amid growing concern about politicised courts, corruption, and journalists under pressure in countries across the union.

Experts have long had qualms about political oversight of Italy’s public broadcaster, Rai, (Italian Radio and Television) but concerns have mounted since Meloni’s far-right Brothers of Italy party came to power in 2022.

Věra Jourová, the European Commission vice president in charge of the rule of law, told reporters on Wednesday that the commission had “concerns related to the independence and funding of public service media [in Italy]”.

She said: “We ask authorities to address the situation. We have been expressing the need for safeguards for years now, but with new incidents reported by stakeholders and budget cuts, this is becoming very urgent.”

Italian journalists accused Meloni’s administration of trying to turn Rai into “a government megaphone”, after a parliamentary committee approved the airing of political rallies in full without any journalistic mediation during the European election campaign. Journalists at Rai went on strike in May, alleging “suffocating control” by the government over their work, after the broadcaster was accused of censoring an anti-fascist monologue due to be read on one of its shows.

This week Rai’s president, Marinella Soldi, announced she was leaving for personal and professional reasons, without elaborating further. Italian media reported that she would take up a job at the BBC. The previous chief executive of Rai, Carlo Fuortes, resigned in May, citing government pressure, and was quickly replaced by a Meloni ally, Giampaolo Rossi, who has tweeted in support of Vladimir Putin, Donald Trump and Viktor Orbán.

EU authorities also lamented a lack of progress on reforming Italy’s defamation law, considered one of the most punitive in Europe.

A court last week ordered a journalist to pay Meloni €5,000 for mocking the prime minister’s height, in a social media post. The European Centre for Press and Media Freedom described the development as “absolutely appalling” and said it would “undoubtedly further erode press freedom in Italy”.

Jourová said stakeholders had signalled “an increase in the number of cases of legal intimidation, including from political figures”, but there was “no progress on the reform of the defamation regime”.

This year the EU agreed a law to crack down on “strategic lawsuits against public participation”, where the wealthy and powerful file vexatious lawsuits in attempts to silence investigative reporters and NGOs. But this only applies to cases with a cross-dimension, so does not help a defendant facing “lawfare” in their home country.

Referring to this distinction, Jourová said: “We strongly recommend the [EU] member states to introduce more safeguards against the abuse of a legal system against the journalists and human rights defenders.”

She rejected claims that the commission had delayed the publication of Wednesday’s report in an attempt to curry favour with Meloni’s government ahead of Ursula von der Leyen’s ultimately successful campaign to win a second term as head of the European Commission.

Issuing the report during the campaign and negotiations over EU top jobs meant it “might have got even less attention,” Jourová said. She added: “That is why we decided to do it now, when we can achieve more visibility of the report.”

Didier Reynders, European commissioner for justice, said he had had “many discussions” with Italy’s European minister on the issues, adding that the commission was “open to engage” in a political dialogue to find a positive approach.

The commission, he promised, would monitor implementation of the European Media Freedom Act, which was agreed this year and which aims to protect journalists, and secure editorial independence and transparent ownership of media companies.

Threats to independent media remain persistent or growing in several EU countries. Long-voiced concerns about the independence of public services media had “not yet been addressed” in Romania, Malta and Hungary, the commission said.

EU officials are also worried about the future independence of Slovakia’s public media, after the nationalist-populist government of Robert Fico passed a law this month dissolving the current public broadcaster and replacing it with a new one.

More than six years after the Slovak investigative reporter Ján Kuciak and his girlfriend were murdered, EU officials cited “some progress” in efforts to improve the safety of journalists in Slovakia, but noted increasing concerns about a worsening of their working environment.