Word: rai
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...about to exert his will over the public airwaves. The government is slated this week to name a new board of directors for RAI, the Italian state broadcaster and only true competitor of Berlusconi's Mediaset channels. "This will ensure Berlusconi's control, directly or indirectly, of the whole national television system," says Peppino Ortoleva, professor of communications at the University of Siena. The task of choosing the five-member RAI board is in the hands of the president of the Italian Senate and speaker of the lower house of Parliament, both firm Berlusconi loyalists. The leading candidate to head...
...control of information in Italy to Leonid Brezhnev's in the 1970s Soviet Union. But Rutelli and his allies - who tried in vain to make conflict of interest a pivotal campaign issue last spring - are still having trouble convincing the Italian public that there is much to worry about. rai's impending change of the guard is old news in Italy, where the state broadcaster's board - as well as top newsroom posts and even minor acting jobs - have long been divvied up as political spoils among the factions of both the ruling coalition and opposition. "Most Italians...
...attempt to truly resolve the issue would likely involve a partial or total privatization of rai, a prospect that gets a chilly reception from politicians of all stripes who count on it as a protector of their power. The Prime Minister himself has little interest in having the state sell rai, which would not only swipe away his newfound influence at the public broadcaster, but could also bring on stiffer ratings competition from a potential newcomer...
Mentana himself is an example of the paradox of the Italian broadcasting scene, with his Canale 5 show more likely to be critical of its top shareholder than two of the three rai stations. A RAI reporter who requested anonymity said that most people inside the industry believe the public stations are becoming more beholden to the government than their Berlusconi-owned competitors. "The atmosphere inside rai is atrocious," said the state TV reporter. Still, the private network has its own inherent limits: Mediaset's vice president is the Prime Minister's son, Piersilvio Berlusconi. Mentana thinks Berlusconi Sr. should...
Many Arab newsmen agree. They say the bitterness that the U.S. has sown with its policy toward Israel has intensified because of the civilian casualties in Afghanistan. Two weeks ago, Yasser Abu Hilalah charged in the Jordanian daily al-Rai that the Americans are ignoring war crimes committed by the Northern Alliance. "The U.S. has lost the propaganda war," Abu Hilalah concluded...