Journalists from the influential Italian public broadcaster RAI have gone on strike, writes the Financial Times. In a video statement, the RAI Journalists Union, which represents about 75 percent of the broadcaster’s 2,000 journalists, complained of interference in editorial policy and deteriorating working conditions and called a five-day protest.
“We would rather lose one or more days of salary than lose our freedom. RAI’s independence and freedom are valuable to everyone,” the union said in a statement.
Last month the union accused the broadcaster’s board, dominated by Meloni government appointees, of seeking to turn the network “into the megaphone of the ruling party”, saying the atmosphere was becoming “more stifling every day”.
Maloney has previously criticized RAI, calling it a “left-wing bastion for many years” and saying it needs to “restore the balance” with more diverse views so the channel can become more objective and fulfill its public role.
RAI management accused the journalists’ union of “a strike for ideological and political reasons, and not because of labor rights.” Management also demands that the union “stop promoting fake news that damages the company’s image” and accused the strikers of using the public broadcaster for “political manipulation” ahead of the European Parliament elections.
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The union responded that RAI management was trying to “discredit” all the channel’s journalists. The broadcaster, which brings together several national and local channels, is the largest news producer in Italy, accounting for about 38 percent of prime-time viewers. Tensions have been simmering within the RAI for months over the Maloney government’s planned reforms, with the union complaining about its inability to replace retiring journalists or women on maternity leave, and the practice of keeping permanent editorial staff on temporary contracts.
Last month, the scandal came to light after the sudden cancellation of a planned television appearance by renowned writer Antonio Scurati, author of the best-selling historical novel M: Son of the Century about the rise to power of fascist dictator Benito Mussolini.
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Scurati, whose novel is being made into a TV miniseries, was scheduled to give the monologue on the eve of Italy’s Liberation Day on April 25, which marks the end of fascism, but his appearance was abruptly canceled shortly before filming.
In his monologue, read by the program’s host, Scurati criticized Meloni, who began her own political career as an activist in the neo-fascist Italian Social Movement, for failing to adequately condemn Italy’s time under fascism. Scurati publicly accused Maloney of censorship, writing that “my thoughts on fascism and post-fascism have been silenced.” At the same time, RAI management said that contractual problems and Scurati’s unexpectedly high fee were behind the decision.
Meloni, who this year said RAI must improve quality, pluralism and objectivity, also rejected accusations of censorship and published the contents of Scurati’s speech on her Facebook page.
Discussing complaints from journalists at a press briefing today, RAI veteran Enrica Agostini said that in her 25 years at the broadcaster she had “never faced such pressure and censorship as during this period”.
The strike comes days after Reporters Without Borders’ annual press freedom index dropped Italy’s ranking five notches to 46th among 180 countries. Members of the Democratic Party expressed support for the striking journalists, while some members of Meloni’s government, including Tourism Minister Daniela Santanche, criticized the union.
In 2020, the Italian public broadcaster RAI got into a scandal: on the air of the Italian show “L’Eredita” there was a statement that “Russia had a second name for Ukraine.”
