Mission Report: Silencing the Fourth Estate: Italy’s Democratic Drift
Media freedom in Italy has been steadily declining in recent years, marked by unprecedented attacks and violations often initiated by public officials in an attempt to silence critical voices. Political interference in public media and the systematic use of legal intimidation against journalists by political actors have long defined the media-politics relationship in Italy. However, these dynamics have reached alarming levels over the past two years.
In the lead-up to the 2024 EU elections, amidst a rapidly deteriorating context, the partner organisations of the Media Freedom Rapid Response (MFRR) conducted an urgent mission to Rome, Italy, on May 16-17, 2024. The mission aimed to engage with state representatives, institutions, and political parties on three critical issues: political interference in public media, legal harassment of dissenting journalists, and the potential acquisition of AGI, one of the country’s main news agencies.
This report presents the findings from the mission and MFRR’s ongoing monitoring, offering a comprehensive analysis of the three most urgent issues identified. It evaluates the impact of various measures and bills introduced by Italian decision-makers, in light of the latest EU provisions aimed at ensuring the independence of public media, countering market concentration, addressing conflicts of interest, and equipping the judiciary to handle vexatious lawsuits. The report also provides detailed recommendations for Italian institutional and governmental actors, outlining necessary steps to counter the decline in media freedom and much-needed reforms.
This statement was produced as part of the Media Freedom Rapid Response (MFRR), a Europe-wide mechanism which tracks, monitors and responds to violations of press and media freedom in EU Member States and candidate countries.
