Italy public TV journalists strike for ‘freedom’

On Monday, journalists at the national broadcaster RAI in Italy went on strike, citing concerns about political power and staffing levels under the hard-right government of Giorgia Meloni.

“We prefer to lose one or more days of pay than to lose our freedom,” Usigrai, the main trade union representing the broadcaster’s 2,000 journalists, said in a video defending the 24-hour walkout.

However, Usigrai was accused by RAI management of being motivated by “ideological and political motivations” and of spreading “fake news”.

Late last month, Usigrai announced the strike, claiming “the suffocating control over journalistic work, with the attempt to reduce RAI to a megaphone for the government” as one of the reasons.

It has previously used the word to protest what some claim is the growing power that those connected to Prime Minister Meloni—the head of the post-fascist Brothers of Italy—have over RAI.

In its video, Usigrai specifically criticized the choice to “censor” a lead writer’s monologue that was critical of Meloni just in time for Liberation Day on April 25, which is observed by Italians to commemorate the defeat of Nazism and fascism at the close of World War II.

Meloni’s party was accused by Antonio Scurati of attempting to “rewrite history” by attributing the greatest excesses of the Fascist dictatorship on its cooperation with Germany under Adolf Hitler.

Usigrai is also grumbling about personnel shortages, claiming that certain journalists are let to linger on temporary contracts while retiring employees are not being replaced.

In its own video statement, RAI management said there was “no censorship” and said it was trying to transform the broadcaster into a “modern digital media company”.

In a sign of the impact of the strike, RAI’s 24-hour news channel was on Monday showing pre-recorded features.

Italy’s National Press Federation (FNSI) has offered its support to the strikers.

However, a smaller union of RAI journalists, Unirai, has condemned the strike as “political”.

It defended the return to “pluralism” at the broadcaster, which is funded in
part by a license fee.

As a public broadcaster whose top management is chosen by politicians, the independence of RAI which has a primetime audience TV share of about 39 percent has always been an issue of debate.

But the arrival in power of Meloni, who formed a coalition with Matteo Salvini’s far-right League party and the late Silvio Berlusconi’s right-wing Forza Italia, has redoubled concerns.