The disjuncture between what goes on and what is reported has rarely been so apparent. On Saturday, with little-to-no advance television publicity, an initiative got under way in Piazzas throughout Italy. The initiative was to collect signatures to propose a new law with three main clauses: 1) No-one fully convicted of a crime should be […]
One of the favoured ‘journalistic’ tricks used by Italian newscasters is the addition of suitable music to add drama to any story. Newsnight, the bastion of British broadcasting – still basking in the moral glow of Jeremy Paxman’s critique of modern television – decided last night that the most appropriate way to finish it’s special […]
Global 24hr news stations, well-resourced and able to bring us in-depth, live coverage of epoch defining moments. Italy, like many other countries, has had its news media shaken ever so slightly over the last couple of years with the introduction of 24hr news channels. Rai 24, the news flag-ship of state broadcaster specialises in developing […]
In yet another attempt to harness widespread dissatisfaction with Prodi’s government, Umberto Bossi – leader of the Lega Nord party, has made calls for a fiscal strike, or to put it another way, tax evasion. The calls for a fiscal strike were augmented by last year’s budget which raised taxes in several areas under the […]
And so, one of the greatest Italian mysteries of the 21st Century is brought to an end. Amateur humorist and sometime Inter defender Marco Materazzi has revealed what he said to Zidane during last year’s world cup final. Apparently Zidane, frustrated at Materazzi’s constant shirt pulling had said sarcastically to the Italian player “If you […]
Shane Barry, in the blog above this monkey, has taken a certain amount of umbrage at the Rough Guide’s suggestion that Ireland (Republic and North of) are amongst the “most backward places when it comes to racism […]”. This monkey can proudly reveal that in Northern Italy innovations previously unthought of are being hatched on […]
In July of 1982, just a month after the discovery of his body – hanging from some scaffolding under Blackfriars bridge – a London inquest ruled that Italian Banker Roberto Calvi had committed suicide. It was a verdict that raised eyebrows in England, and provoked disbelief in Italy. Calvi, known as ‘God’s Banker’ because of […]
There was quite a brooha, here, the other week in relation to an opinion piece written by Adrian Michaels in the Financial Times entitled Naked Ambition (brought to my attention by the eagle-eyed ,Shane Barry – thanks) The article focussed on the obsessive use of the female body in Italian television and advertising, and the […]
This monkey was one of the few viewers of Live Earth here in Italy. On a blisteringly hot day (something that is not particularly unseasonal – for what its worth), I chose to stay indoors and watch bits and pieces of Al Gore’s extravaganza, and after a brief and remarkably unscientific straw poll after the […]
I stumbled upon an interesting dialogue on Bloggingheads.tv between Bruce Feiler and Reza Aslan, author of No God But God (and, apparently, the Brad Pitt of young Muslim commentators…). It’s a lengthy interview, throwing up some interesting points as the two talk about the Iranian community in America, and the political state of play in […]
