13.8.08

Hardtalk journalism. But never in Italy


I watched with gusto yesterday's BBC Hardtalk, an interview with Franco Frattini. Italian politicians able to talk publicly in English are rare to be found. And Italy's Foreign Minister, despite some grammar mistakes and often-repeated sentences (such as "frankly speaking", "oh yesss", and a Roman accent quite evident when he went out of his script), talked his way through Stephen Sackur's usual grilling, managing (hardly) to keep his cool.
As I always do when I watch Hardtalk, I instinctively pick a winner, and this time it was the journalist, big time. Frattini's answers sounded shallow especially on immigration and Roma discrimination, too official, sometimes out of the context; and in some moments you would expect the minister to take off his smiling mask and start ranting at Sackur. But he didn't.
Anyway, while I was watching Hardtalk, I couldn't help but think that you don't see interviews like this in Italy. Political journalism here doesn't go further than putting a microphone under the politician's chin, while he looks at the camera and talks to the viewer (you can't blame them, actually: the journalist is useless, and his questions could be written by the politician's press office). Reporters who dare ask uncomfortable questions are treated by politicians like partisan, unprofessional journalists with a political agenda.
Two years ago, when he was the opposition leader, Silvio Berlusconi walked out of Lucia Annunziata's "Mezz'ora", a one-to-one interview clearly inspired by Hardtalk. Annunziata's questions were soft, by Sackur's standards, but that was more than enough for Berlusconi, who accused her of being biased. The saddest thing about that episode was the reaction of the people. While you could expect fellow politicians would defend Berlusconi, many Italians - even progressive-leaning ones - admitted they were uneasy with Annunziata's aggressive style. And the fact that Annunziata is actually more centre-left than centre-right (although radical leftists consider her too pro-American and conservative), in the eyes of many, prevented her from being "fair" to her guest. Therefore, whatever perfectly legitimate question she posed to Berlusconi, it was because she was biased. Following this way of thinking, it is the journalist who has to prove his guest he's fit to the role, not the other way round.
That's why they should broadcast yesterday's Hardtalk on Italian tv, with subtitles. Because you will never see Frattini grilled for half an hour by an Italian journalist. He simply wouldn't accept the invitation. And if he did, he would know he can call the journalist biased, when he's facing tough questions. Try do that with Stephen Sackur.

6.8.08

Mamma mia!, the army in the streets

The government is already hailing it a success. Italians unlucky enough to spend August in the big cities, however, don't know whether to laugh or cry: 3,000 troops have been deployed in Milan, Rome and Naples' streets since last Monday, in order to crack down on petty crimes.
One could wonder what crimes you'd expect in ghost towns as those three cities are during the summer holidays, unless you plan to put a soldier in every block to defend empty flats from burglars. And whether Italy has seen a statistical rise in crime is open to debate: data are open to interpretation, the government and the opposition produce the ones that suit their theories best.
Anyway, the initiative is clearly part of the recent Italian obsession with "security", which usually goes with immigration-bashing. Some months before last April's election, the media agenda has been dominated by news related to immigrants - arriving in mass from Africa, getting stranded at sea, dying on our beaches, joyriding and killing innocents, raping. Every piece of news, every reported crime, kicks up a media frenzy if committed by foreigners. Berlusconi's goverment is playing into the people's fear that immigrants are taking Italy over: last week it even declared a state of emergency.
Being a nation with only a recent history of immigration, Italy could be forgiven for its inexperience to deal with the problem. But the government's populism and eagerness to subtly exploit the immigration card is, I would say, criminal itself. Instead of crafting policies to manage the problem, it sheds responsibility by declaring it insolvable, implying the use of force is the only way. The results: a hysteric country, scared citizens ready to take security into their hands because they don't trust the state, and ultimately a nation that feels besieged. And that, rather than opening itself to the world in the era of globalization, chooses to retract in its own carapace. And therefore, to decline.