Viva Media Resistance

On Monday night, my partner Melanie took me to see a film that many might call life-changing. Viva Zapatero paints a startling picture of a crippled independent media in modern-day Italy and the implications that has for Italian civil society. It’s a documentary told through the personal experience of political satire artist Sabina Guzzanti that lays naked what is possible today in the current political reality of many countries in this world. Unstopped media consolidation, blatant corruption, backward libel laws and the targeting of journalists with lawsuits, spineless public representatives, and coerced publishers and broadcasters all pave the way for censorship, propaganda, and a complete disintegration of the Italian media environment. Again, this is happening today. read more »