IFEX ::"(IFJ/IFEX) - The following is a 25 September 2008 IFJ media release:
EFJ Says Wave of Layoffs at Italian TV La7 is Dangerous for Pluralism
The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ), the European group of the International Federation of Journalists, today expressed its solidarity with staff and unions at Italian TV channel La7 who are facing an unprecedented wave of lay-offs that will cut more than a quarter of the work force.
"Not only did these massive lay-offs take place without warning but they also pose a serious danger to pluralism in Italian media," said EFJ President Arne König. "This TV channel is the only alternative at national level to the public broadcaster RAI, which is controlled by Prime Minister Berlusconi's government, and the channels owned by Mr. Berlusconi outright, which makes it very precious." "
ENDitorial: A stupid law and a perverse "criminal" sentence | EDRI"In Article 21 it is stated that «Everyone has the right to freely express thoughts in speech, writing, and by all other communication.» Also that «The press may not be controlled by authorization or submitted to censorship.» But this isn't quite so. There are "authorization" rules (as well as other hindrances and privileges) that get in the way of freedom of information and communication (generally defined as "freedom of the press" ever since the concept was established in 1848 by the "Statuto Albertino" - that in 1861 became the Constitution of what was, at the time, the Kingdom of Italy.)
Within this framework, let's get to the specific case that has, quite rightly, caused a wave of protest and indignation - and to the two awkward laws that have made it possible. The facts are reported (not always accurately) in several online documents. (see the end of the article)
A "criminal sentence" issued by a Court in Modica (Sicily) on 8 May 2008 condemned historian Carlo Ruta, defining his website "clandestine press" because it wasn't formally "authorized" as a newspaper or a magazine. (The site was no longer active. It had been "seized" by the police, by order of the Modica Court, in 2004).
One of the absurdities in this Court decision is that the website was defined as "testata giornalistica" because it had a "heading". By that criterion, any publicly available correspondence written on "letterhead" could be criminally condemned as "clandestine press". "
