2024-05-07 10:56:06
In the Italian state media RAI, which has television and radio channels, as well as internet editions, whose management is appointed by the authorities and which is also financed with state funds, a 24-hour strike began, starting at 5:30 a.m. (6:30 a.m. Bulgarian time) today until 5:30 a.m. tomorrow, reported the media itself, as well as leading Italian electronic publications and French media. The strike was organized by the Trade Union of Journalists from RAI, which unites about 2,500 journalists.
A statement published in text and as a video on RAI’s website said: “For the first time in many years, RAI journalists will completely abstain from work in protest against senior management’s decisions to merge programs and broadcasts without discuss them with the trade unions, does not replace employees who retire or go on maternity leave, whereby the workload falls on those who remain, which does not introduce a public recruitment procedure, which does not stabilize the situation of employees whose situation is most precarious, and which reduces wages by unilaterally canceling the performance bonus. But not only that, these days it became public knowledge that RAI tried to censor a monologue on April 25, and then apparently found itself in an embarrassing position because the controversy has tried to turn it into an economic issue.We would rather lose a day’s salary than lose our freedom, convinced that the freedom and autonomy of the public media is a value for all. And HEAVEN belongs to everyone.”
For today, the union had announced that it was also organizing a press conference at the Rome-based Foreign Press Association, which includes correspondents of foreign publications covering events in Italy. At this press conference, it was announced that the TV presenter Serena Bortone would also participate, in whose program the RAI management had recently prevented an anti-fascist monologue by the Italian writer Antonio Scurati from being delivered on the occasion of April 25, when Italy celebrates its liberation from the fascist regime. In the monologue, Scurati recalled some of the worst crimes committed by the fascist regime and blamed the rulers, in particular Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, for not condemning the entire fascist history of the country.
After the scandal that broke out at the time, Prime Minister Meloni published Scurati’s monologue on her Facebook account, leaving her audience free to reflect on the content of the text and only clarifying that she had been informed that Scurati’s participation in the RAI program was canceled due to disagreements over the €1,800 fee he was to receive for his brief appearance on the show, which was equivalent to the monthly salary of some workers in Italy. Scurati denied Meloni’s version. This version was also replicated by RAI leaders. The opposition and other well-known journalists, such as Roberto Saviano, also joined the debates on Scurati’s side. Journalist Bortone read the writer’s monologue on the air of her program, despite the decision of RAI management to cancel it. The monologue was read by Scurati during several public events in Naples and Milan, a number of publications reprinted it, it went viral on the Internet and was also read by students in a number of universities and schools in the country, Italian publications recall.
The RAI strike received the support of other media unions and publications. The president of the National Federation of the Italian Press, Vittorio di Trapani, said that there is a risk in Italy of a “Hungarian deviation that will reduce freedom of speech and of the media,” reported Agence France-Presse.
Responding to the statement by the main RAI journalists’ union, the media’s management, in a video statement uploaded to the company’s website, said there was no censorship of information and accused the union of promoting the spread of fake news and shutting down the media in an important a time when the European elections are being campaigned. “The RAI Journalists’ Trade Union strike a month before the European elections not only affects the provision of information, which becomes poorer, but also exposes the public media to political manipulation, depriving citizens of their basic right to information, which is a cornerstone of democracy,” RAI management said in a statement.
Another union in the media – UniRAI, which was created recently and is associated with the right, announced on April 25 that it will not join the strike action, which it defines as political, but calls for the return of pluralism in the media, France Press recalls .
Today’s strike will not include Radio RAI employees, who already went on strike for two days at the end of April against plans to merge RAI’s radio channel, which broadcasts parliamentary sessions, with RAI’s television channel, dedicated to the activities of the Italian parliament, and against the merger of RAI’s sports radio channel with the media’s sports television channel, ANSA recalls.
The strike was organized shortly after the famous Italian TV presenter Amadeus announced that he was leaving RAI and moving to the private TV Nove of the Discovery media group, where he will host several TV programs. Amadeus has been a presenter at the Sanremo festival for five years and his skills in this direction are believed to have contributed to the high viewership. However, some manifestations of participants and guests of the festival in its last two editions have generated various controversies in Italy, and representatives of the authorities have accused it of becoming a scene of anti-government and pro-Palestinian demonstrations and of becoming unnecessarily politicized.
Amadeus was another famous presenter to leave RAI. Last year, RAI’s “Nove” aired Fabio Fazio’s show, in which guests were current people from Italian and world political, cultural, social and sports life, including Pope Francis, Barack Obama, Madonna, Fanny Ardan, and others.
And at the same time, after the information about the cancellation of the monologue of the writer Scurati, information also appeared that a monologue by another Italian writer – Nadia Teranova, dedicated to the pro-Palestinian protests of students in Pisa in March, stormed by the police, was considered inappropriate by the editorial board. point of view for broadcasting on the same show that Scurati was supposed to be on. In late April, it also emerged that Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama, with whom Meloni has a close relationship, called RAI to object to a report on a migration deal between Italy and Albania. Rama considered the report to spread lies and to be biased, France Press adds.
Even after the controversy surrounding Scurati’s monologue, Meloni assured that there is no censorship in RAI. She stated that her party, which has been subject to RAI censorship in the past, will never allow anyone to be censored, even those who spread anti-government propaganda with taxpayers’ money, Italian media and AFP reported. Meloni posted this statement on Facebook.
By the way, because of the controversies about RAI and the claims that it circulates pro-government rhetoric, the media in Italy named it “Tele Meloni”, BTA reports.