Chris Hanretty

'press' Category

• May

  02

  2009

  Freedom House rankings for 2009

  The Freedom House rankings for press freedom for 2009 are now out [h/t Michele].
  Italy drops to 73rd place, loses ‘Free’ status. The headline for the press release says that this is the first time Italy has lost ‘Free’ status. Not so This is the second time Italy has suffered this fate– it was also judged [...]

  posted in freedom house, italy, press by Chris

• Aug

  30

  2008

  Press Freedom in Italy over time (2)

  From reporters san frontières:

  Year
  2002
  2003
  2004
  2005
  2006
  2007

  Rank
  40
  53
  39
  52
  40
  35

  Total countries
  139
  166
  167
  167
  168
  169

  Unfortunately, no disaggregated scores are available. Similar trends to those seen in the Freedom House survey can be seen.

  posted in italy, press, press freedom, rsf by Chris

• Aug

  30

  2008

  Press Freedom in Italy over time

  From Freedom House:

  Aspect
  2002
  2003
  2004
  2005
  2006
  2007
  2008

  Status
  Free
  Free
  Partly Free
  Partly Free
  Partly Free
  Free
  Free

  Legal Environment
  2
  8
  11
  9
  9
  9
  10

  Political Influences
  11
  6
  13
  13
  13
  11
  10

  Economic Pressures
  14
  14
  9
  13
  13
  9
  9

  Total Score
  27
  28
  33
  35
  35
  29
  29

  Ranking
  none given
  none given
  74
  joint 77 with Bolivia, Bulgaria, Mongolia, the Philippines
  joint 79 with Botswana
  joint 61 with Cape Verde, Guyana, Israel, Sao Tome e Principe
  joint 65 with Samoa

  Scores are from 0 – 100; higher scores are worse.
  It should be obvious that press freedom declines when Silvio Berlusconi is [...]

  posted in freedom house, italy, press, press freedom by Chris

• Feb

  24

  2007

  State funding of Italian newspapers

  Following a tip [thanks Costanza], I found a wonderful transcript of an episode of Report on the state funding of Italian newspapers. The state spends 667 million euros a year to subsidize newspapers; the intention behind the subsidies was originally to help struggling ‘newspapers of ideas’. Instead, with a 1987 law permitting two deputies to [...]

  posted in corruption, funding, italy, newspapers, press by Chris