Fear of political pressure?
Riccardo Iacona, who returns with PresaDiretta from Monday 19 February at 9.20pm on Rai3, has no doubts and in response to a question from ANSA he explains: "I am the son of the Bulgarian edict, in this RAI room here in Viale Mazzini there were Michele Santoro's press conferences, I was a kid and I was here, I remember them well. The walls were shaking. I am the son of a RAI where there was lava...", recalls Iacona.
And then he adds: "But as they say in Rome: I like it! I like it when there is debate, when there is contrast if everything is obviously based on quality and the relationship with the public. I know what it's censorship, I know much more about it than others who always talk about it. Our program was closed and I didn't work for three years. Together with Santoro - Iacona further underlines - they shut the mouth of Biagi, the cornerstone of Italian journalism Think of everything that opened that season of military occupation of Rai by the Government. Then at a certain point, thank God, it ended but it was a very serious vulnerability. We must not go back to that thing there and to do it good will is not enough but reforms must be created that allow the decision of who should be in charge of Rai to be separated a little, not too much, from the majorities that exist. Because this creates a destructive mechanism of good things and breaks that loving relationship with the public which is Rai's most important thing and is still its asset".
And he closes: "And that's why I proudly work here and wouldn't go anywhere else."
Iacona also has his say on the proposal of the Northern League undersecretary Alessandro Morelli on a Daspo to Rai for those who talk about politics in Sanremo: "I am totally against it - says Iacona - and I consider it a barbaric thing, a bit Hungarian-style. But in Hungary it is not we talk about politics on TV, there aren't even talk shows. The opposition leaders don't participate in the public debate while here, thank God, they do. Let those who want to throw us back and make us return to an Italy in black and white that no longer exists. And I believe they would also find the disfavor of their voters."
"And precisely in Italy - he explains - where there is a problem of crisis of representation. We will see it in Monday's broadcast in a valuable piece from Basilicata where four out of seven parliamentarians come from outside due to the very unfortunate mechanism of the electoral law. And the people For five votes now he has not been able to choose his own parliamentarians."
And he adds: "Now we will see and talk about this too if the premiership will broaden the front of democracy and if he will return to giving the Italians the floor or if it will be a definitive mechanism for undermining democratic representation."
"We had already done a program on Julian Assange in recent months when he was no longer being talked about and now the hours are numbered. Precisely on the night of our first episode the court will have to give its ruling" explains Iacona.
And you also remember that Europe is putting its face on the line on this matter, which concerns freedom of the press, and that for the journalist it is a matter of "life or death".
Iacona proudly announces that he is starting again from the Assange case, a story that also intersects with the ongoing wars.
"We will then see clearly why - says Iacona - and, moreover, he is proof of the betrayal of democracy as his courageous wife Stella Moris says. In his case then there are two absolute firsts. In fact, for the first time Europe is imprisoning a journalist without ever having committed a crime. And for the first time he would be tried under the Espionage Act. We also followed the story of the extraordinary battle of his courageous wife. Stella Moris who says Julian is in prison because he told the truth about the war , everyone in that prison knows he shouldn't be there."
The common thread running through the 8 new prime time episodes is the crisis of democracy.
Not only because authoritarian regimes are increasing but because democratic principles are retreating in more than one area.
In the world of work between crises, layoffs and deindustrialization.
In the fight against climate change, exposed to attacks by deniers, in the eternal state of public health emergency, in the women's question stuck at the stake of inequality, in the war scenarios that multiply.
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