Muzzling the messengers

摘要

On October 3rd a demonstration will be held in Rome to defend media freedom-not in a remote dictatorship, but in Italy itself. Journalists who have called the protest have good reason to worry. In Freedom House's 2009 survey of media independence, Italy was downgraded to "partly free" and placed 73rd in a list of 195 countries (only just above Bulgaria). In this respect, at least, Silvio Berlusconi's Italy is distancing itself from western Europe and becoming more like weaker democracies farther east.