Finding reliable, accurate and objective information in Italy is nigh on impossible. Italy’s television is either controlled by the government or it is run by Silvio Berlusconi.
Italy’s newspapers and radio stations receive funding from the government and many are clearly allied with major political parties, or else are owned by business moguls who support one party over another. Being friendly to a political party is almost as effective as lobbying.
Theoretically, dishing out public money to newspapers and radio is supposed to make Italy’s media more democratic, only this is not the case. Instead, and in order to ensure the funding keeps coming, Italy’s media is beholden to Italy’s political parties. News which might damage a friend will be watered down as a damage containment measure. For examples of this tactic, simply see how Berlusconi friendly Italian newspapers Libero and Il Giornale reported Berlusconi’s antics.
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Other times, Italy’s publicly subsidised newspapers are used as weapons in smear campaigns. Recently, Berlusconi-friendly newspaper editor Alessandro Sallusti was found guilty of defamation after running an invented article. Sallusti was caught, but Italy’s politicians who know full well that friendly newspaper editors are worth their weight in gold are clubbing together to save Sallusti’s skin when he should never be allowed to run a newspaper in Italy ever again.
