Roberto Saviano on the lack of freedom of expression in Italy

The national broadcaster Rai has delayed negotiations on its contract with the political programme Vieni via con me (come with me) by mafia novel author Roberto Saviano - reportedly because the parties involved are demanding too much money. Saviano criticises this justification in an open letter to Rai General Director Mauro Masi in the left-liberal daily La Repubblica: "Rai has done everything it can in the past few months to sabotage our work. ... We are facing a paradox: an institution that doesn't have the power to dump the programme is doing all it can to create problems for it and reduce its viewer ratings to the minimum. ... Obviously the content of our programme scares it. But we are not prepared to negotiate on this; this is our freedom. We neither can nor want to work in this climate, faced with a channel that is opposing us and using all its power and resources to restrict us. The prerequisites for broadcasting are lacking."

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