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, 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 "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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