Under Giorgia Meloni’s far-right government, freedom of information in Italy is facing its most serious threat in decades. Reporters Without Borders now ranks Italy 49th in the 2025 World Press Freedom Index, worse than Gabon and Macedonia, highlighting growing concerns over censorship, surveillance, and media concentration.
Public broadcaster Rai has become a political tool, with government loyalists replacing independent voices. Popular programmes have been axed or censored, while right-aligned hosts have flopped. Investigative journalism is under siege: Report faces deep cuts, and its host, Sigfrido Ranucci, is being punished for speaking out.
Meanwhile, Antonio Angelucci, a far-right italian MP and media mogul, now controls multiple national newspapers and seeks to expand further, despite a history of legal scandals and absenteeism in Parliament.
The situation worsened with the Paragon spyware scandal, where journalists like Francesco Cancellato and Ciro Pellegrino (journalists for fanpage.it) were secretly surveilled after exposing government-linked far-right networks. To date, no answers have been given.
Left MEP Gaetano Pedullà (M5S, Italy) said in plenary: “As of August 8, the Media Freedom Act will be fully applicable, but no one, neither the government nor the majority parties, has begun to deal with it. A slap in the face to the law and to this Parliament, in order to safeguard the fake news of the Italian right’s propaganda. But We Say Enough!”
This is not just a media crisis, it is a democratic emergency and a serious breach of the rule of law. The Left demands full implementation of the EU’s Media Freedom Act and an immediate end to state interference, censorship, and political control of journalism.
