Italy's parliamentary anti-mafia commission should debate Rai state broadcaster's decision not to offer a platform to anti-mafia writer Roberto Saviano for a planned new show on the Mob after he called Deputy Premier Matteo Salvini "the organised crime minister" for alleged mafioso-like threats, the opposition centre left Democratic Party PD said Wednesday, alleging that this was part of an ongoing government purge of leftwing voices from the airwaves.
Saviano, 43, the bestselling author of the Gomorrah expose on the Neapolitan Camorra mafia, is currently on trial for calling Premier Giorgia Meloni and Transport Minister Salvini "bastards" over a strict immigration policy in which they called NGO run rescue ships "sea taxis" and "cruise ships".
The writer, who has been in police protection after Camorra threats since his 2006 work that became an award-winning film and hit TV drama, had previously made acclaimed appearances on a Rai show fronted by a left-leaning host, Fabio Fazio, whose contract has not been renewed, among several leftwingers to leave the broadcaster, mostly voluntarily, since the rightwing government appointed new chiefs as part of Italy's spoils system.
Former PD minister and chair Andrea Orlando said Wednesday that the cancellation of Saviano's show on the mafia was a "dangerous signal and a worrisome choice" amid Italy's fight against organised crime.
Italian Left leader Nicola Fratoianni said "Rai is now becoming ever more like the TVs of Budapest or Pyongyang"
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