Just been reading “The Scottish Enlightenment: The Scots’ Invention of the Modern World” (check it out at [Amazon.co.uk]), in which Arthur Herman argues that the Scots – through our thinkers and engineers, and later through our successful export of over three million Scots to far-flung corners of the World – are responsible not only for [...]
Crystal ball gazers ought in full force to scry for messages in the marathon session to elect a President of the Italian senate. The Corriere article
Maratona al Senato puts it well. Given that senators, on a third ballot, were still making obvious mistakes – omitting the centre-left candidate’s first name, or putting Francesco instead of [...]
Repubblica.it has rolling coverage of the fight to nominate the Presidents of the two Chambers. For the Chamber of Deputies, Fausto Bertinotti looks a shoe-in – but, having failed to get two-thirds of votes on the first round, voting must go to a second round, in which a bare majority suffices.
For the Senate, it’s a [...]
Utterly predictable ruling from the Italian communications watchdog Agcom: Rai director-general and former Agcom employee Alfredo Meocci is found to have violated Agcom’s rules by leaving Agcom to work for Rai, which Agcom regulates. Professor Alessandro Pace submitted a brief to the Rai administrative council on just this issue, but the centre-right members of this [...]
Interesting article from Repubblica.it on Lamberto Sposini leaving Tg5. The article is interesting not for Sposini’s departure, but rather for more evidence on the politico-electoral cycle which afflicts Italian news media. 3rd paragraph down:
‘The editorial assembly “made clear the concerns raised during the meeting, amongst which the clear knowledge that a historic period for this [...]
Following on from yesterday’s post, there seems no third way to resolve the tremendous conflict of interest posed by Berlusconi’s control of the media. Whilst in many other countries, existing anti-trust or media legislation would be used to break up or otherwise ameliorate Mediaset’s dominant position in the Italian media, that doesn’t seem possible in [...]
FT.com / Lex – Lex: Silvio lining: FT notes three options for the Prodi government in dealing with mediaset: (a) revisit Gasparri, (b) introduce conflict-of-interest legislation, (c) beef up Rai. I wonder whether there’s a third option – using antitrust legislation to attack Mediaset? I’m guessing that Rai and Mediaset enjoy (at least) duopoly status [...]
Repubblica.it runs Fausto Bertinotti’s call for a smaller Mediaset second on its front page this Sunday. It provokes immediate and predictable condemnation from the centre-right, and tepid criticism from others in the centre-left.
The centre-left’s reaction to Bertinotti’s call is disappointing, and is perhaps a sign of how cautious the left is. The Constitutional Court, with [...]
With the election of the head of state due on the 12th and 13th April, I haven’t heard many names touted for the post. Big contrast with all the other posts, like the Presidents of the two chambers. L’espresso has an interesting poll which runs through the candidates: Amato, Ciampi, Bindi, Bonino, and Giorgio [...]