Press, Freedom House downgrade Italy "It's not a fully free country"
The non-governmental organization in general in the 2009 report noted a deterioration in conditions of freedom of expression and media.
In Western Europe, ours is the only country 'Partly Free' followed only by Turkey. In the first place Iceland and Scandinavia.
Rosario AMATO (Republic, May 1, 2009) ROME - A free press is falling all over the world, and Italy is not exempt from this form of degradation. Nel rapporto 2009 di Freedom House (organizzazione autonoma con sede negli Stati Uniti, che si pone come obiettivo la promozione della libertà nel mondo), infatti il nostro Paese viene declassato per la prima volta da Paese 'libero' (free) a 'parzialmente libero' (partly free), unico caso nell'Europa Occidentale insieme alla Turchia.
Le ragioni della retrocessione dell'Italia sono molteplici, spiegano gli estensori del Rapporto, che esamina la libertà di stampa in 195 Paesi da quasi 30 anni (dal 1980): "Nonostante l'Europa Occidentale goda a tutt'oggi della più ampia libertà di stampa, l'Italia è stata retrocessa nella categoria dei Paesi parzialmente liberi, dal momento che la libertà di parola has been limited by new laws, courts, the growing harassment of journalists by the Organised Crime and its far-right groups, and because of the excessive concentration of media ownership. "
More specifically, Freedom House recognizes that In general, in Italy "freedom of speech and press are constitutionally guaranteed and generally respected, although the concentration of media ownership." But it is precisely the problem lies. Of course, there is the Gasparri law, respect to which the organization endorses the criticisms that introducing rules that favor the current Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi. There are many libel trial against as many journalists, Freedom House cites some of the most striking, including those borne by Alexander Stille and Mark Travaglio.Ma really sore point in the opinion of the organization, is "the concentration unusually high of media ownership by European standards. " Berlusconi, say the authors of the report without reservations, through the government controls the RAI and Mediaset owns. And the crisis has certainly not helped La7 in this view.
Among European countries, Greece has also suffered a significant setback: it precedes the Italy of one location, and yet maintains the assessment 'free', unlike our Country. The fourth last position in Western Europe was occupied by Greece, preceded the same opinion, Malta, France and Cyprus. In the overall standings, Italy is the seventy-first place, tied with Benin and Israel (all three first 'Partly free' table).
the most liberal countries of Western Europe in terms of press freedom, are, according to Freedom House, Iceland (first), Finland and Norway (seconds), Denmark and Sweden (quarters) . The same countries are also topped the overall standings. The first non-European country in the world ranking of press freedom compiled by Freedom House are New Zealand and the Republic of Palau, eleventh place on a par with Liechtenstein. The United States had only the twenty-fourth place, tied with the Czech Republic and Lithuania (are largely still among the countries that enjoy a free press).
But the European situation, apart from the significant deterioration of the climate in Italy is very positive compared to other areas of the world. "The journalist profession is currently on the ropes - says Jennifer Windsor, executive director of Freedom House - and is struggling to stay alive, exhausted from the pressures of governments and other powerful players and the global economic crisis. The press is the first defense of democracy and its vulnerability has enormous implications per la sua tenuta, se i giornalisti non sono in grado di tener fermo il loro tradizionale ruolo di controllori dei poteri".
Poco più di un terzo dei 195 Paesi esaminati garantiscono attualmente la libertà di stampa: sono classificati 'free' solo 70 Stati, il 36% del campione. Sessantuno (il 31%) sono 'parzialmente liberi' e 64 (il 33%) sono 'non liberi'. Secondo l'indagine, solo il 17% della popolazione mondiale vive in Paesi che godono di una stampa libera. La situazione è particolarmente peggiorata, oltre che in Italia, nell'Est asiatico, mentre per alcuni Paesi dell'ex Unione Sovietica, del Medio Oriente e del Nord Africa Freedom House parla di vere e proprie intimidazioni nei confronti della stampa libera.
Significant progress has been recorded from the Maldives, moved from 'not free' to the 'free' by adopting a new constitution that protects freedom of expression and the release of a prominent journalist, detained in jail. I decided there were worse in Cambodia ('not free'), the country in which increased forms of intimidation and violence against journalists, Hong Kong ('Partly free'), due to excessive forms of pressure exerted by China , the same China and Taiwan, Bulgaria, Croatia, Bosnia and Russia and Israel, where the pressures on journalists have increased sharply in the last conflict in Gaza, Senegal and Madagascar, Mexico, Bolivia, Ecuador, Guatemala and Nicaragua.
