European Salon de News, Discussion et Klatsch - 21 May | 128 comments (128 topical, editorial, 0 hidden)

EUobserver / Gloves come off in EU election campaigns

EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - EU election campaigning is beginning to get ugly, with legal challenges over media abuses launched in France and Italy and personal attacks on senior political figures in Austria and Spain.
The Italian Radical Party - affiliated with the liberal group in the EU legislature - has asked the OSCE for an "immediate inquiry" into alleged violations of media freedom in the EU campaign.
The political fighting is getting dirty
The Radicals say voters are badly informed about their options, with only 3 percent of Italians aware about which parties are running and with candidates allegedly forced to pay for access to TV shows.
The Radicals note that international watchdog Freedom House has degraded Italy from "free" to "partially free" in the area of press. Italian centre-right prime minister and media tycoon Silvio Berlusconi is also being linked to a corporate lawyer accused of bribery and perjury.

by Fran on Wed May 20th, 2009 at 01:59:46 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Hmmm (4.00 / 4)

It "gets ugly" because someone is trying to defends its rights against the Berlusconi media machine? Was it not ugly when Berlusconi captured all the media and used all the combined instruments of State and Mediavest to deny decent coverage to opponents?

In the long run, we're all dead. John Maynard Keynes

by Jerome a Paris (etg@eurotrib.com) on Thu May 21st, 2009 at 06:03:26 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: European Elections (4.00 / 2)

EUobserver / Gloves come off in EU election campaigns

Spanish MEP Jaime Mayor Oreja, who tops the centre-right voting list in the country, has been forced to defend his work rate, saying he spends his time in Brussels crafting his party's internal strategy. According to registers, the deputy has not spoken in an EU plenary session since November 2007.

And he only did so to respond to a guest speech by Zapatero.

The brainless should not be in banking. — Willem Buitler

by Carrie (migeru at eurotrib dot com) on Fri May 22nd, 2009 at 05:42:10 AM EST
[ Parent ]

European Salon de News, Discussion et Klatsch - 21 May | 128 comments (128 topical, 0 editorial, 0 hidden)