Italy has dropped five slots to 46th
in the latest world press freedom report by Reporters Sans
Frontieres with the case of press agency AGI, set to be sold to
League MP and rightwing newspaper proprietor Antonio Angelucci,
cited as one of the reasons.
Rome is midway in the rankings topped by Norway and with Eritrea
in last place, with RSF voicing concern over businessmen allied
to governments taking over media.
It cites the case of AGI, Italy's second biggest news agency
after ANSA and owned for the last 40 years by state controlled
oil giant Eni, which is set to be sold to Angelucci, owner of
conservative dailies Il Giornale, Libero and Il Tempo,
effectively by a top member of his own party, League bigwig and
Economy Minister Giancarlo Giorgetti.
The RSF report says "an example of some political groups
orchestrating the acquisition of the media ecosystem is Giorgia
Meloni's Italy, where a member of her coalition is trying to buy
the AGI press agency".
While Meloni and Giorgetti say it is an anomaly for the State to
own a news agency, AGI's journalists have struck against the
proposed Angelucci deal and Italy's journalists union and
liberal politicians have voiced concerns over freedom of the
press and conflicts of interest.
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