Culture

Italian journalist Enzo Biagi dies in Milan

by Kaitlin | November 6, 2007 at 10:19 am

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In one of Italy's most complex and difficult political climates, good, straightforward journalism is hard to find. Add to that the fact that former President Silivio Berlusconi owned much of the nations media, and getting to the truth was next to impossible.

Then came Enzo Biagi--a veteran journalist and writer, whose cut-to-the-quick style and ability to navigate the political landscape of Italy (he'd been a journalist since Mussolini was in power) made him one of the only voices outside the reach of Berlusconi's regime.

Biagi's considerable legacy includes eighty books and nearly six decades on air, including the popular nightly program Il Fatto (The Facts) which aired until 2002. Biagi died Tuesday in Milan at age 87.

"He left us an extraordinary lesson in journalism," Stefano Folli, an editorialist for Il Sole-24 Ore daily said on Sky TG24 TV. Biagi was "a great witness to history, to events" who "spoke an extraordinarily simple language," Folli said.

With Biagi's death, "a great voice of freedom" vanishes, said Italian President Giorgio Napolitano.

For years, Biagi's white hair, thick-framed eyeglasses and calm voice were a staple on Italian state TV during Italians' dinner hour as he offered his commentary on the top stories of the day.

On May 9, 2001, just two days before the general elections in Italy, during his daily prime time 10-minute TV show Il Fatto, broadcast on Rai Uno, Biagi interviewed the popular actor and director Roberto Benigni, who gave a hilarious talk about Silvio Berlusconi in which he humorously declared his preference for the other candidate, Francesco Rutelli from the Olive Tree coalition.[1]

Biagi then disappeared from the TV screens a few months after the Berlusconi declarations in Sofia, Bulgaria, where the then-Prime Minister accused the popular journalist, together with fellow journalist Michele Santoro and showman/comedian Daniele Luttazzi, of having made criminal use of the television service.

Biagi's defenders argue that a public service should provide pluralism, and that a country where government prevents opposing ideas from being voiced on air is a régime.