BLUE BOOK - The state of freedom of the media, proposals for policy reform

The state of freedom of the media

proposals for policy reform

by Enzo Marzo

English translation by Cristina Di Battista

Index:

1

TO BE AWARE THAT THE MEDIA ARE NOT FREE2

THERE IS NO DEMOCRACY WITHOUT INDEPENDENT INFORMATION3

PUBLIC OPINION AND PROPAGANDA4

THE RELEVANCE AND THE REVOLUTION OF THE NEW MEDIA5

CITIZENS, READERS,CONSUMERS6

THE CONFORMIST SWAMP7

FIVE CRITERIA FOR MEDIA REFORM8

FROM THE THREE POWERS OF THE STATE TO THE THREE POWERS OFTHE "PUBLIC SPHERE": A NEW SEPARATISM9

THE NEUTRAL STATE’S ROLE AS GUARANTOR10

A MODEL FOR FREEDOM OF INFORMATION. PREMISE11

THE PUBLIC RELEVANCEOF INFORMATION12

PROBLEMS WITH THIS MODEL AND POSSIBLE SOLUTIONS13

PLAN B: ON ONE'S OWN INITIATIVE14

THE RIGHTS OF READERS AND THE

GUILD

OF JOURNALISTS15

CONCLUSIONS. THE BIRTH OF THE "PANNUNZIO SOCIETY FOR THEFREEDOM OF INFORMATION"

1

1. to be aware that themedia are not free

Freedom of information, to some extent, isguaranteed by constitutions and laws. Themedia, with their networks that encircle theglobe, declare themselves free, buteverywhere they are in chains. The bonds, of course, are increasingly virtual, invisible,binding minds and directing them. A verylong struggle has guaranteed, officially, thefreedom to inform: Today in industrializedcountries one can print, broadcast, transmitsignals, sounds, and messages. All (almost)freely. The freedom of the media is (almost)legally guaranteed, often subsidized. And sothe world of symbols has superimposed itself on the real world, covering it, reshaping it if not replacing it.The new era is under the aegis of information.The profusion of information tools isimpressive – even excessive, some fear.However, if each segment of this cluster istainted because it is not free, the Whole istransformed into a nightmare of conformityand unfreedom. Public opinion is praised asparamount and omnipotent, but in fact it ismanipulated, other-directed, weakened. Themeans of communicating are inexorably andgradually becoming concentrated.Everywhere there reign, if not monopolies,then oligopolies and expensive, elephantinestructures, unreachable by ideologicalminorities. The reader, the viewer and thelistener, who appear everywhere to beprotagonists, are actually reduced tounknowing objects. They have no rights. Thefruits of the hard-won freedom of the mediaare disheartening. The viewer-readers defendthemselves as best they can and regress:gradually abandoning the “most difficult”instruments and succumbing to the “easiest”.People go less and less to the newsstand tobuy the daily newspaper and instead lie infront of the TV assimilating dubioustelevision news that overlaps in the mind in a jumble of

serial dramas

and

news

.Today, in Italy, in the age of Berlusconi, thestate of the television media has undergone atrue collapse: it has been transformed from anoligopoly to a near-perfect monopoly. Directcontrol of almost all private TV, as well asindirect control of public TV, ownership of production formats, domination of theadvertising market, a dominant position inpublishing and among market researchinstitutions, are all in addition to the publicpower, and sustain it, contaminating theformation of a political will and tamperingwith the basic requirements of anydemocracy. In the game of politics,Berlusconi is openly cheating, and by warpingthe political struggle at every stage untilelection day, he reduces democracy to little ornothing. Almost all his opponents either havea culture of democracy so meager that they donot perceive this danger or, in their indolence,become his accomplices.The cancer that has befallen uscannot lead us to forget, however, thatinformation

anywhere

—even in so-called“normal” conditions—represents the first andmost serious problem of our democracies.

2. there is no democracywithout independentinformation

According to Robert A. Dahl, of the fivecriteria that distinguish an ideal democracythree regard the media: 1)

effective participation

(“before a policy is adopted [...],all the members must have

equal

and

effective

opportunities for making their views knownto the other members”), 2) the right toinformation (“within reasonable limits as totime, each member must have equal andeffective opportunities for learning about therelevant alternative policies and their likelyconsequences”), 3) control of the agenda.