The Italian President
Giorgio Napolitano has officially approved a financial manoeuvre known as the
‘Stability Law’, which provides many key moves and changes to improve economic
growth. This 11,6 billion-euro manoeuvre would theoretically be executed by the
start of 2014, yet there are many who still disagree on key points in the text.
The three general secretaries of the three largest trade unions in Italy, CGIL,
CISL, and WIL, have organised a series of 4 hour strikes in November in
opposition to some economic reforms that they believe shouldn’t be put through.
In the meantime, Prime Minister Enrico Letta strongly defends this manoeuvre;
emphasizing the need for change as well as the need to ‘say no’ and making
people understand who is truly leading.
Various other political figures have expressed their opinions, some
criticising the strikes, others emphasizing the burden that this new manoeuvre,
and therefore the government, is carrying and which needs to be lightened.
I have chosen
three news outlets which are known to be fairly different in their approach to
political news and that reported this controversy in different ways, with
slightly different views on the matter and some putting more emphasis on
certain aspects of the matter than others.
The first outlet
is the online news website based on its television equivalent Rai News 24 (Rai is Italy’s public broadcasting network, comparable to the BBC), and it is known as fairly neutral and
unbiased. This seems to be the case in the article regarding the strikes, where
the key points are presented as well as different points of view from various
sides. The Prime Minister’s opinion on the matter is expressed in quotes, and
there are paragraphs regarding the Stability Law itself and opinions of the
matter by other members of parliament.
The second news
outlet is the online version of the newspaper La Repubblica, known to be more left wing in its political
views. The article seems to focus more
on the trade unions’ move and intentions rather than anything else, providing
less emphasis on the Prime Minister’s reactions and actual facts on the
manoeuvre.
The final news
outlet is the online version of the news Il
Giornale, which is a right wing paper owned by Berlusconi. Usually known to
be against government policy (when Berlusconi is not in power), in this case
the article mentions the strikes but mostly focuses on the Stability Law and
the various opinions about it, and in particular its specific aspects.
Throughout the
articles a variety of sources were used, from politicians to members of the
trade unions to the Prime Minister itself. None of the articles tried to
construct a very particular view of the issue, even though La Repubblica seems to be putting the unions and the strike first. Il Giornale instead shadowed the unions
with emphasis on the manoeuvre and its supporters.
I personally
found all the articles useful in deciding my view on the issue. Each provided
key elements of most aspects of the manoeuvre and strike, but I must say that
the Rai News 24 article was the one
that provided the most general summary and insight into all aspects of the
story. Overall though, no crucial information was missing from any article, and
no extreme bias was present.
http://www.repubblica.it/politica/2013/10/21/news/stabilit_brunetta_indecente_che_non_si_conosca_testo_definitivo_sindacati_verso_lo_sciopero_generale-69067305/?ref=HRER2-1
http://www.ilgiornale.it/news/interni/manovra-arriva-parlamento-c-nodo-tasse-barricate-pdl-960369.html
Lorenzo Milani
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