The cancellation of a monologue by the writer Antonio Scurati, scheduled for Saturday night on a program on Italian public television, Rai, has ended up becoming a political case in which the opposition has accused the government of the far-right Giorgia Meloni. of censorship. The text of the soliloquy, which has been published by most newspapers, is particularly critical of the ideology of the prime minister’s party and had been prepared on the occasion of the Anniversary of the Liberation of Italy, which marked the end of the Nazi occupation and which is commemorated on April 25, a national holiday. Among other things, the popular writer, author of a trilogy about the dictator Benito Mussolini, defines the Brothers of Italy formation as a “post-fascist leading group” that aims to “rewrite history” and that does not recognize the Resistance movement and the anti-fascism.
“After avoiding the issue in the electoral campaign, the prime minister, when forced to address it due to historic anniversaries, has stubbornly maintained the ideological line of her neo-fascist culture of origin: she has distanced herself from the indefensible cruelties perpetrated by the regime (the persecution of the Jews) without ever repudiating the fascist experience as a whole; has placed the blame solely on the Nazis for the massacres perpetrated with the complicity of the fascist republicans and, finally, has denied the fundamental role of the Resistance in the Italian Renaissance (to the point of never mentioning the word anti-fascism on the occasion of the 25th of April 2023)”, the text reads.
The leader of Rai, Paolo Corsini, has rejected that it is an act of censorship, arguing that the cancellation was due to an internal communication from public television that explicitly mentions “editorial reasons.”
Giorgia Meloni broadcast the full text of the monologue on her Facebook profile on Saturday afternoon. In the publication that accompanies it, she assures that she does not know the reasons for the suspension. But she has highlighted that Rai has simply refused to pay 1,800 euros, “the monthly salary of many workers”, for one minute of monologue. The prime minister has also defended her party and pointed out that “those who have always been ostracized and censured by public service will never ask for censure from anyone.” And she has pointed out: “not even from those who think that their propaganda against the Government should be paid for with citizens’ money.”
Serena Bortone, the host of the Chesarà program, which was going to host the monologue, was the first to report what happened through her social networks and assured that she found out on Friday “with dismay and by pure chance” of the cancellation of the writer’s participation. “I have not been able to obtain a plausible explanation,” said the presenter. The opposition has called what happened censorship and has once again condemned what they consider the intention of Meloni’s far-right government to control public television and its content. Francesco Verducci, of the Democratic Party and member of the Rai Surveillance Commission, has described it as a “very serious case of censorship” and “violation of the editorial autonomy of a program.”
The Secretary of Action, Carlo Calenda, has also criticized the decision of public television: “Eliminating the intervention of a great writer for political reasons is unacceptable, undignified. This happens in Russia and cannot happen in a European country. Unfortunately, we are all awaiting an apology and the immediate restoration of the canceled monologue.” For the Rai journalists’ union, Usigrai, this is a measure to “silence intellectuals who are not welcome by those who govern.”
Join Morning Express to follow all the news and read without limits.
Subscribe
The monologue that Scurati wanted to do on Rai begins with a memory of the murder of the socialist deputy Giacomo Matteotti and several Nazi-fascist massacres. He also makes an explicit accusation against the far-right Government: “Will the heirs of that history recognize it, once and for all?”
A questioned independence
This is not the first time that the independence of public television has been questioned under the mandate of Giorgia Meloni and there is increasing criticism of the political pressures that the Government is apparently exerting.
Last week, the Rai news presenters read a statement from the public broadcaster’s main journalists’ union in which they harshly criticized the new rules that guarantee political parties equal access to certain spaces in the media. , recently approved by Parliament for the June European election campaign.
Journalists consider that the new regulations threaten freedom of the press and accuse the government majority of wanting to reduce the public service to its own “megaphone”, since, as they point out, government representatives will be able to speak in gatherings without limitations of time and without replicas. “Not only that, Rainews24 [el canal de información 24 horas] will be able to broadcast political rallies in their entirety, without any journalistic mediation. This is not our idea of public service, where at the center is the work of journalists who ask questions (even uncomfortable ones), verify what is said, point out inconsistencies,” public television workers have denounced. And they have warned that they are willing to mobilize to guarantee viewers “independent, balanced and plural information.”
Another recent controversy has been the dismissal of the popular presenter Amadeus from public television, where, among other things, he had achieved consecutive audience records with the popular San Remo Song Festival. The presenter has not revealed the reasons for his departure, but the Italian media have indicated that Rai had made some specific requests to him which consisted of including in the program in different positions characters who, for one reason or another, are considered close to the three parties of the government coalition.
Follow all the international information on Facebook and xor in our weekly newsletter.
.
.
_