Suspending Report wd be subversive -Fico (4)

(ANSA) - Rome, April 19 - State broadcaster RAI parliamentary watchdog chief Roberto Fico said Wednesday that suspending news show Report over a controversial segment on the adverse reactions to human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine would be "an unacceptable subversive act". "If they suspend Report they should suspend the payment of the license fee," said Fico, who added that his 5-Star Movement (M5S) "urges all Italians to support Report, because Italy needs independent journalism that provides quality information".
    He said "we are ready to go outside RAI HQ with a full-blown picket if RAI shuts down Report".
    RAI President Monica Maggioni responded by saying no one had ever thought, "for one second," of shutting down Report.
    She told the RAI parliamentary watchdog: "I have heard the most fanciful reconstructions. No one, for one second, ever thought of closing Report". M5S leader Beppe Grillo and M5S members have frequently appeared to side with vaccine skeptics.
    Health Minister Beatrice Lorenzin, the Higher Health Institute and the Italian Society of Virologists all accused Report of "serious disinformation" in highlighting the adverse effects of the HPV vaccine reported by a number of women, while not stressing the scientific consensus that, while some mild side effects are inevitable, the vaccine saves millions of people a year from cancers of the cervix, anus, vagina, vulva and penis.