Italy’s President Blocks Law Easing Media Consolidation Rules
Dec 22nd, 2003 • Posted in: NewsROME
Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi was dealt a sharp blow last week by the country’s president, who refused to sign a controversial bill that would have eased media ownership restrictions.
Berlusconi, a media tycoon, wanted the bill to pass. Critics claimed that it would hurt media diversity and concentrate Berlusconi’s power over the national airwaves.
Between his family’s media holdings and his power over state-owned media, the bill would have extended Berlusconi’s influence to cover 95 percent of Italian TV, reported the Reuters news agency.
Media watchdogs and the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe cautioned that increasing Berlusconi’s reach over the national media could jeopardize diversity and hinder the ability of the media to criticize the government.
Although Italy’s upper and lower houses of parliament both approved the bill, President Carlo Azeglio Ciampi defied strong political pressure and refused to sign the measure into law.
“It’s a significant setback and it has certainly angered Berlusconi,” Franco Pavoncello, a professor of political science at John Cabot University in Rome, told Reuters.
Ciampi sent the bill back to parliament for changes. Under Italian law, the bill can be modified or voted on once more in its present state. If it is passed by parliament twice, the measure automatically becomes law.
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