On March 12, an Italian court overturned a previous ruling banning
political talk shows on TV and radio in the month before regional elections on
March 28 and 29.
Two of Italy’s media giants, Sky Italia, a unit of News
Corp. and Telecom Italia Media SpA, had contested the decision of Italy’s
communications authority to ban political talk shows in the month prior to the
vote as part of the country’s par condicio or equal access media law during
Italian elections.
As a result of the initial ruling, the state broadcaster suspended all
of its political talk shows, including the left-leaning Annozero and Ballarò.
However one show, Porta a Porta, presented by veteran RAI journalist Bruno
Vespa, is still being aired on RAI Uno.
In protest, the
presenters of the banned shows, along with other journalists, have started
airing their programs on the Internet. TV and print journalist Enrico Mentana
has launched Mentana Condicio (www.corriere.it),
during which he tackles election issues. Another web TV broadcast, by the
Italian National Federation of Print Journalists, is scheduled for March 25 in Bologna. Called Rai per una Notte, the talk
among banned journalists, Michele Santoro, Giovanni Floris, Daniele Luttazzi,
Marco Travaglio, and Vauro, will be available through live streaming.
