Italy’s right-wing government has stepped up attacks on the freedom of the press, showing “heavy intolerance to media criticism” and “unprecedented levels of interference in public service media,” a coalition of civil liberties groups has said.
Civil Liberties Union for Europe (Liberties) released a report Monday calling out several European governments for what they say is a systematic “dismantling” of democratic norms and the rule of law with regard to media freedoms. A total of 43 human rights organizations in 21 EU member states compiled the Liberties report.
Giorgia Meloni’s right-wing government in Italy was singled out for particular criticism as one of five so-called “dismantlers” of the rule of law alongside eastern European nations Bulgaria, Croatia, Romania and Slovakia. Viktor Orban’s Hungary is in a class by itself, designated as an “electoral autocracy” by Liberties researchers, who said they detected a “significant regression” in the rule of law in the country in 2024.
Italy’s attack on the media is more recent, with Liberties calling out what it said were “unprecedented levels of political interference,” at Italian public broadcaster RAI, “heightening the risk of public service media being captured by political power.” The report points to allegations that RAI allegedly censored a planned anti-fascist monologue by prominent writer Antonio Scurati (M: Son of the Century) and called out RAI’s governance and funding structures “which currently leave the public broadcaster vulnerable to political interference.”
Liberties’ researchers also flagged proposals drafted in Rome the group said would give Meloni’s government “open-ended powers” to the justice ministry over prosecutors, and which would increase political control over the judiciary.
“Europe’s democratic recession has deepened in 2024,” Liberties said in a statement Monday, summarizing the report’s conclusions. Over more than 1,000 pages, the report details disturbing trends of political manipulation and growing corruption as well as increasing harassment of journalists and restrictions on free speech provisions.
“Without decisive action, the EU risks further democratic erosion,” the report concludes.
European governments last year passed the European Media Freedom Act (EMFA), intended to ensure editorial independence in European media and to enhance transparency of media ownership across the EU. But the Liberties report found, with few exceptions, that member states “have not taken serious action” to implement EMFA into national law. The EMFA goes into full effect in August.
“The coming months may determine whether member states move toward greater press independence,” the report concludes, “or if existing power structures remain intact.”
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