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Journalists at Italy’s influential public broadcaster, Rai, went on strike on Monday in a deepening confrontation with Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s right-wing government.
In a video statement, the Union of Rai Journalists — which represents about 75 per cent of the broadcaster’s 2,000 journalists — complained about editorial interference and working conditions as they launched what organisers say will be five, non-consecutive days of labour action.
“We would rather lose one or a few days of pay than lose our freedom,” said the union announcement, which was broadcast on Rai channels. “The autonomy and freedom of Rai is of value to all.”
The union last month accused the broadcaster’s governing board — which is dominated by Meloni government appointees — of seeking to transform the network “into the megaphone of the ruling party”, and said the atmosphere was “more suffocating every day”.
Meloni has previously criticised Rai, saying it had been a leftist bastion for years and required “rebalancing” with more diverse views to become more objective and to fulfil its public service role.
In its angry response to the labour action on Monday, Rai management has accused the journalists’ union of “striking for ideological and political motivations, nothing that concerns labour rights”.
The management also demanded the union “stop promoting fake news that was damaging the image of the company”, and accused strikers of using the public broadcaster for “political manipulation” ahead of European elections.
The union responded that the Rai management was trying to “discredit” all Rai journalists and had adopted a tone like “the owners of an iron-works”.
Rai, which has multiple national and local channels, is Italy’s biggest news producer, and accounts for around 38 per cent of primetime viewership, according to Italy’s communications industry regulator.
Tensions have simmered in Rai for months over the Meloni government’s planned overhaul of the broadcaster, with the union complaining about the failure to replace retiring journalists or women on maternity leave, and of the practice of keeping long-term editorial staff on temporary contracts.
But discontent erupted publicly last month after the abrupt cancellation of the scheduled television appearance by high-profile writer Antonio Scurati, author of the best-selling historical novel M: Son of the Century, about the fascist dictator Benito Mussolini’s rise to power.
Scurati, whose novel is now being made into a television mini-series, was slated to perform a monologue ahead of Italy’s April 25 Liberation Day holiday, which celebrates the end of fascism, but his appearance was abruptly cancelled shortly before filming.
In his monologue — which was instead read out by the programme’s host — Scurati criticised Meloni, who began her own political career as an activist with the neo-fascist Italian Social Movement, for failing to adequately condemn Italy’s time under fascism.
After the cancellation, Scurati publicly accused Meloni of censorship, writing that “my thoughts on fascism and post-fascism had to be silenced”. But Rai management said contractual issues, and Scurati’s unexpectedly high fee, were behind decision.
Meloni, who declared earlier this year that Rai had to improve its quality, pluralism and objectivity, also rejected allegations of censorship, and posted the contents of Scurati’s speech on her own Facebook page.
Discussing the journalists grievances at a press briefing today, veteran Rai political reporter Enrica Agostini said that in 25 years at the broadcaster she had “never faced the pressures and censorship as I am facing in this period”.
The strike comes days after Reporters Without Borders’s annual press freedom index downgraded Italy’s ranking by five notches, to number 46 out of 180 countries, citing gag laws and the growing use of defamation lawsuits.
Members of the Democratic party have expressed support for the striking journalists, while some members of Meloni’s government, including tourism minister Daniele Santanche, lambasted the journalists’ union.
Additional reporting by Giuliana Ricozzi
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