I'm as happy as a pig in mud trawling through the EUI library for new books for my research. Have found that the library has an excellent reference guide for the French Media, called MédiaSIG - this should be useful for calculating rates of turnover in France Télévisions and seeing whether they follow what might be termed a 'political logic'.
Technorati Tags: France+Télévisions, EUI, guides, turnover
Wednesday, September 06, 2006
Friday, September 01, 2006
Late-summer Games kick-off at Rai
Fighting over Rai's future direction has increased in tempo over the past few days. There are two levels: first, the administrative council, where the Treasury's representative, Angelo Maria Petroni, has been subject to some pressure to resign. Il Giornale talks of 'the operation to take-over Rai', and quotes Sandro Curzi, left-wing member of the Council. It's unclear however whether this 'take-over' has deep roots: Romano Prodi claims that, if the left has a plan for Rai, he doesn't know about it, and quips that, in any event, the Lebanese problem is easier to solve than the problem of Rai.
The second level is the executive level. Director-General Claudio Cappon must make a series of nominations to key posts in Rai. The first batch of nominations will be voted on by the Council of Administration meeting on September 6th; it will be important to see whether Cappon's nominations are all approved, and if so, by what majorities.
Technorati Tags: Rai, Cappon, Curzi, Petroni, Prodi
The second level is the executive level. Director-General Claudio Cappon must make a series of nominations to key posts in Rai. The first batch of nominations will be voted on by the Council of Administration meeting on September 6th; it will be important to see whether Cappon's nominations are all approved, and if so, by what majorities.
Technorati Tags: Rai, Cappon, Curzi, Petroni, Prodi
Sunday, August 27, 2006
The BBC's "Green Book"
"Extreme care should be taken in dealing with references to or jokes about - Pre-natal influences (e.g. 'His mother was frightened by a donkey')".This wonderful quote from The BBC's "Green Book", or the Policy Guide for Writers and Producers of Variety Programmes. The Guidelines, which date from the fifties, are extremely, unwittingly, entertaining.
Technorati Tags: bbc, humour, comedy, guidelines, impersonation
Who did Prodi want for Rai DG?
Good gossip from Prima Comunicazione on the recent choice of Claudio Cappon as RAI DG. Apparently, Romano Prodi didn't want Prodi, but instead Antonello Perricone, MD of the editorial house that produces La Stampa. Prodi had counted on peeling off centre-right members of Rai's Administrative Council, but his point-man, Angelo Rovati, messed up his counts. So, the Margherita and the Democratici di Sinistra got their man in Cappon, and Petruccioli managed to reach compromise with the centre-right for them.
Technorati Tags: cappon, rai, prodi, appointments, lottizzazione, antonello, perricone, angelo, rovati
Technorati Tags: cappon, rai, prodi, appointments, lottizzazione, antonello, perricone, angelo, rovati
Saturday, August 26, 2006
Politicians over-estimate media effects
Nordicom Review 1-2/2004 - Publication: "Mass Media, Interpersonal Communication or Personal Experience? Perceptions of Media Effects among Swedish Politicians" - is an interesting article demonstrating that politicians are far more likely than the general population to be believe that the mass media is extremely influential slash decisive in forming people's political views - something I've long suspected. Possible reasons adduced:
Technorati Tags: politicians, perception, media, public+opinion, survey, sweden
- because politicians reacted strongly to a particular program, they assume others will too (law of small numbers);
- because politicians saw a particular program, they assume others did too (increasingly unlikely given different media consumption patterns)
- simple exaggeration of the media effect
Technorati Tags: politicians, perception, media, public+opinion, survey, sweden
Thursday, August 24, 2006
Dissent within Rai CdA rumbles on
For some weeks now, Rai Administrative Councillor Angelo Maria Petroni, one of the right-wing members of the Administrative Council, has been threatening to resign. Petroni, along with Chairman Claudio Petruccioli, was nominated by the Italian Treasury in 2005 under the centre-right government, and confirmed by the parliamentary committee which supervises Rai.
Petroni's resignation threat causes a major legal and political headache. The law which governs appointments to Rai's administrative council, the so-called Gasparri law, says that, should a council member resign, his or her replacement shall be appointed in the same way he or she was originally nominated. Thus, should Petroni resign, the Treasury would be entitled to nominate another member of its choosing, subject to confirmation by two-thirds majority from the parliamentary committee.
This is the legal situaton. Politically, Petroni's resignation would cause problems for Petruccioli. It seems unlikely that the Treasury would be willing to accept a council member acceptable to the centre-right members of the committee. Conversely, it seems unlikely that the centre-right members of the committee would be willing to accept any council member nominated by the Treasury, for even if that person was free of the slightest hint of partisan bias, their nomination by the Treasury would instantly taint them as such.
Thus, in order to broker compromise, the Treasury would have to nominate a replacement for Petroni - and for Petruccioli. Only this way would both sides feel as if they had protected their patch of political turf within Rai.
(This, at least, is how I understand it. I cannot understand the claim made in Legno Storto, that: "should Petroni leave, the balance introduced by the Gasparri law forsees the appointment of an opposition Chairman").
The enforced resignation of two members of the CdA would be bad for Rai. It would rob Rai of managerial and/or supervisory expertise: Petroni has previous experience of serving on Rai's administrative council, and Petruccioli seems quite competent as Chair. More importantly, enforced resignation would reinforce the belief that Rai must be subjugated to changing political balance.
How then best to deal with Petroni's resignation, should it arrive? One modest proposal is that the Treasury should nominate a single person, but make the process so open and transparent that the centre-right can't possibly object. So:
I think that would help. But political hay can be made even under a pale sun when in Italy.
Technorati Tags: appointment, Treasury, Rai, Petroni, Petruccioli, lottizzazione
Petroni's resignation threat causes a major legal and political headache. The law which governs appointments to Rai's administrative council, the so-called Gasparri law, says that, should a council member resign, his or her replacement shall be appointed in the same way he or she was originally nominated. Thus, should Petroni resign, the Treasury would be entitled to nominate another member of its choosing, subject to confirmation by two-thirds majority from the parliamentary committee.
This is the legal situaton. Politically, Petroni's resignation would cause problems for Petruccioli. It seems unlikely that the Treasury would be willing to accept a council member acceptable to the centre-right members of the committee. Conversely, it seems unlikely that the centre-right members of the committee would be willing to accept any council member nominated by the Treasury, for even if that person was free of the slightest hint of partisan bias, their nomination by the Treasury would instantly taint them as such.
Thus, in order to broker compromise, the Treasury would have to nominate a replacement for Petroni - and for Petruccioli. Only this way would both sides feel as if they had protected their patch of political turf within Rai.
(This, at least, is how I understand it. I cannot understand the claim made in Legno Storto, that: "should Petroni leave, the balance introduced by the Gasparri law forsees the appointment of an opposition Chairman").
The enforced resignation of two members of the CdA would be bad for Rai. It would rob Rai of managerial and/or supervisory expertise: Petroni has previous experience of serving on Rai's administrative council, and Petruccioli seems quite competent as Chair. More importantly, enforced resignation would reinforce the belief that Rai must be subjugated to changing political balance.
How then best to deal with Petroni's resignation, should it arrive? One modest proposal is that the Treasury should nominate a single person, but make the process so open and transparent that the centre-right can't possibly object. So:
- Publish a job advert in all major newspapers
- Contract a head-hunting firm to solicit applications
- Get the head-hunting firm to draw up a limited shortlist of no more than three
- Choose from this shortlist, and publish the names of those not chosen.
I think that would help. But political hay can be made even under a pale sun when in Italy.
Technorati Tags: appointment, Treasury, Rai, Petroni, Petruccioli, lottizzazione
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