Policy

26 Nov 09

Carlo de Benedetti speaking at the annual Reuters Lecture.

An influential opponent of Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi this week charged him with attacking press freedom.

Speaking at Oxford University, Carlo de Benedetti, who is President of Gruppo Editoriale Espresso which publishes the daily newspaper La Repubblica, outlined examples of where he believed the Italian Prime Minister had 'attacked the papers that have dealt with his scandal' and said: 'The question of the truth and of accountability underpinning this issue, which has been round the world, has also become a question of freedom. The Prime Minister in attacking Repubblica is attacking the whole of the press of the western world.'

Mr de Benedetti, whose commercial rivalry and political opposition to Mr Berlusconi spans three decades, was speaking at the annual Reuters Lecture at Oxford University’s Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism.

He spoke in his lecture about the increasingly populist culture surrounding leaders, using Berlusconi as an example, but remarking that this populism raises 'a question that concerns all our democracies, which are tending more and more towards leaderism and a direct relationship between the leader and the people.'

He described a modern populist culture, 'which is advancing in the West', in which the leader, because elected by the people, considers him or herself above all other powers, rejecting the idea of checks and balances.

In western parliamentary democracies, said de Benedetti, 'the conduct of leaders who follow populist culture often leads to clashes, conflicts and abuses of power, which free journalism must of course capture, highlight and denounce when it is convinced that it exists.'

He said: 'When this conflict is considered illegitimate or, even worse, subversive and therefore criminal, the right of citizens to learn and know is conditioned, impoverished and the quality of democracy pays the price.' He added: 'The question we have to ask ourselves is whether it is still possible in Europe to carry out ongoing investigative journalism on those in power or not.'

Repubblica, the most prominent publication in Mr de Benedetti’s group, published ten questions arising from a series of alleged scandals connected with the Prime Minister earlier this year. The Premier took legal action against the ten questions, requesting damages of one million euro against Repubblica.

In his lecture, de Benedetti charged that 'never had it happened before – a Prime Minister taking legal action against questions that he wants the judge to cancel and get rid of because he himself cannot or does not want to answer them.'

On the answers to the ten questions arising from the alleged sexual affairs and parties involving the Prime Minister, Mr de Benedetti said: 'On November 5, after six months of attacks and allegations, the Italian Premier finally had to answer the ten questions posed by Repubblica. This decision shows that the questions were legitimate, that it was journalistically correct to ask them, reiterate them and demand an answer. The delay with which the answer arrived was definitely politically significant.

'Equally significant was the method chosen for the answers: rejecting a direct confrontation with Repubblica or a dialogue with public opinion, opting instead for a journalist friend and his book, published by the publishing house owned directly by the head of the Government. A controlled and protected political operation.'

De Benedetti added: 'Italy is in fact the only democratic country in the world where a single individual – who is also at the head of the largest political party, leader of the parliamentary majority and head of the legitimate government – to all extents and purposes dominates the national television universe, with control through ownership of three private channels and political control of the three publicly owned channels.

'This means that his control is of what we could define as the modern agorà or meeting place where public issues originate and take shape, an extremely delicate area where the market of consent is formed and where public opinion, that essential subject of a western democracy, is formed.'

The annual Reuters Lecture was held on Monday 23 November 2009 at St Anne’s College, Oxford. Previous Reuters lecturers have included Leonard Downie, former editor of the Washington Post, and Arthur Sulzberger, publisher of the New York Times.