An Italian parliamentary committee has launched an investigation into “misinformation” on television amid a heated debate over the frequent appearance of Russian guests on news programs in the country during the war in Ukraine.
The Parliamentary Committee on Security of the Republic (Copasir), which oversees the intelligence services, said on Wednesday that it had summoned the heads of Italy’s state television network, the state security agency, and the communications oversight body.
The commission said it was investigating “foreign interference and disinformation activities … in particular concerning the Russia-Ukraine conflict”.
Prime Minister Mario Draghi has taken a hard line on Moscow since it invaded Ukraine on February 24th, but opinion polls show that Italy – unlike other European G7 countries (Britain, France, and Germany) – has little public support. to send weapons to Ukraine.
Italian public broadcaster RAI and its four main private channels regularly host Russian journalists on their talk shows to debate with Italian counterparts about the war, an approach that has heightened divisions in the country.
While some commentators say it is right to hear both sides in the conflict, others condemn giving airtime to what they call Russian “propagandists.”
The controversy escalated on Sunday when Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov chose Italy’s private channel Rete 4 to give his first interview on a European television network since the invasion began.
Critics said the interviewer had failed to provoke or interrupt Lavrov enough. Some said the Russian minister should not have been interviewed at all. Draghi himself took part in the debate the next day, saying the interview was “not very good”.
Italy has no tradition of aggressive television interviews with politicians.
Some experts have begun refusing to take part in talk shows in protest of the space allowed for what they describe as Russian propaganda.
Natalie Tochi, head of the Italian Institute of International Relations, declined to take part in the show on Tuesday, as another guest was from the Russian Defense Ministry, saying she “does not want to be complicit in disinformation”.
On the other hand, Lucio Caracciolo, one of the most prominent geopolitical experts in Italy and the founder of Limes, a respected magazine for world affairs, continues to make daily appearances on talk shows on the private channel La7. Karacholo dismissed Copasir’s investigation as a “joke”, saying that “if we want to take it seriously, we will have to think that they want to create a Ministry of Truth”.
Moscow says the Western media has provided an overly one-sided account of the war.
Related Posts
- US Secretary of State: Ukraine succeeds, Russia fails
Russia is failing to win in Ukraine, said US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken, DPA…
- Italy and Greece are easing COVID-19 measures, but more cautiously
At the beginning of the tourist season, Greece and Italy announced that they would ease…
- Russia has threatened to destroy Finland: another independent state
Russia has threatened an independent state that it will be destroyed if it joins NATO.…
- The war in Ukraine: why do the Russians commit these atrocities?
The war is cruel and dirty. The idea that modern weapons can lead to a…
- Why Russians are being exported en masse to Kazakhstan
Many people from Russia and Ukraine are now arriving in Kazakhstan, the correspondents of the…
More Stories
Mass bomb threats in Belgrade, Serbia says it is because of Russia
Nearly 100 bomb threats in Belgrade on Tuesday led to mass evacuations of schools, public buildings, restaurants, and other public...
The world’s wheat crop is threatened by drought and heat
As the Russian invasion halts Ukrainian wheat exports and raises the prices of bread and pasta, the world's harvest faces...
In the United States, a gunman killed 10 people with racist motives and broadcast the attack online
An 18-year-old white man killed 10 people and wounded three in a shooting at a grocery store in Buffalo, upstate...
The Latvian parliament has authorized the removal of monuments to the Soviet army
The Latvian parliament has approved the removal of the monument to the liberators of Riga from Nazi occupation, as it...
Refugees from Ukraine exceeded 6 million people
The number of people fleeing the war in Ukraine has exceeded 6 million in Europe's worst refugee crisis since the...
Kherson region wants to join Russia
The administration of the Kherson region in Ukraine, taken over by the Russian armed forces, said today that President Vladimir...