Lucia Annunziata, one of Italy’s most renowned TV journalists, who famously took on Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi during a heated interview, took part in a lecture organised by the Italian Society of the London School of Economics last night.

Questioned about the future of freedom of expression in Italy, she disputed the widely held assumption that Italian journalists are limited in their power of speech. Annunziata argued that “being a journalist is deciding day by day what to write and what to say. Nobody ever prohibited me from doing that.” About the Italian national broadcaster she declared: “RAI have always been linked with politics and always will. When Berlusconi’s government will be replaced with a new one, they will have plenty of people who will sing for them just as well”. “There is no lack of freedom of expression in Italy”, she concluded.

RAI Berlin Correspondent Marco Varvello, who attended the event as well, took an altogether different stance on the issue. “Editorial policies have changed for the worse. You can say what you want, that’s true. But if you do it, you don’t know whether you will be asked to write or speak again next time. As a foreign correspondent, I can tell that there are some issues which are being totally ignored by Italian media”. Asked how long will it take for the media scenario in Italy to change: “I don’t know”, he stated. “Even if we take Berlusconi out of the picture, we now have this stigma. It will be very difficult to get rid of it.”