Italy: Meloni Govt. Accused of 'Ruthless' Influence Over State Media

Improve the News Foundation -

Facts

  • Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni's right-wing government has been accused of trying to bend Italy's public broadcaster RAI [Radiotelevisione Italiana] to its will after a series of high-profile departures, including left-leaning talk show hosts Fabio Fazio and Luciana Littizzetto.1
  • This comes as the former managing director of RAI, Carlo Fuortes, resigned earlier this month, claiming that the state-funded TV and radio outlet is undergoing an ideological purge on the orders of the new government.2
  • While Fuortes was replaced by the government-appointed RAI manager Roberto Sergio, the former RAI board member Giampaolo Rossi — who is backed by Meloni's Brothers of Italy party — has become director-general.1
  • This state media overhaul is part of the government's crusade against what it alleges is left-wing bias pervading Italian culture, with culture minister Gennaro Sangiuliano recently stating that Italy must fight what he called "journalist police officers" who enforce political correctness.3
  • Party-friendly appointments are not new in Italy's state network, as ruling parties have long packed RAI with supporters to ensure favorable news coverage. Even so, the RAI 3 channel is likely to remain a "left-wing enclave" under Meloni according to the newspaper Corriere della Sera.3
  • Meloni has been the leader of the Brothers of Italy since 2014, becoming the country's first female prime minister last October after running on a nationalist, conservative platform.4

Sources: 1Guardian, 2Europeanconservative, 3Times, and 4Evening Standard.

Narratives

  • Left narrative, as provided by Euronews. The Meloni government couldn't wait to get their hands on the levers of state media power, and now we know why. Not only is the ultraconservative regime taking over state media but all state-run cultural departments as well. Brothers of Italy is currently trying to disrupt decades of antifascist progress, and shaping the public discourse is step one in this regressive effort.
  • Right narrative, as provided by The Washington Examiner. Each report on Giorgia Meloni's cultural policies is baseless. The left-wing media globally despises her not because her ideas are wrong or she's evil, but because she has common sense beliefs and promotes true Italian culture. The left needs to invoke fear in the public to blind them from the fact that its decades of tearing apart the nuclear family and religion have been a net negative to society.

Predictions