Scott Whitlock
newsbusters.org
Scott Whitlock is the Research Director for the Media Research Center’s NewsBusters.org. Previously, he was associate editor for NewsBusters. Before that, he was a contributing editor and the MRC’s senior news analyst.
You might think that the first female prime minister of Italy would be hailed as an advancement for women’s equality. But you would be wrong. Journalists reacted to the news that Giorgia Meloni has been elected in Italy very badly, melting down over the coming “neo-fascist” state and warning that a return to the dark days of World War II could be coming.
Over and over again on networks like ABC, CBS, NBC, as well as the cable channels, all lashed out at the “neo-fascist” candidate. Making a comparison to the horrors of World War II and the Holocaust, CBS journalist Chris Livesay hinted, “It’s stunning because of Italy’s disastrous history the last time a hard-right party rose to power.”
Later, Livesay made his dark prediction explicit: “Italy is revered for its history. But not all of that history is beautiful. And many fear that one particularly ugly chapter could soon repeat itself.”
NewsBusters media editor Bill D’Agostino made a montage of the media meltdown. Check out his video:
When host Christiane Amanpour tried to do this kind of fear mongering on PBS, it didn’t work out so well. On September 27, Italian Ambassador to the United Kingdom Raffaele Trombetta appeared on PBS. Amanpour fretted, “We all know that Italy was the birthplace of fascism. And her party’s been accused of having roots in that.”
Trobetta shot down this alarmist media argument: “There were elections…. Giorgia Meloni is actually the leader of the main party. They got a very solid majority from the Italian people. So, I think, you know, we respect that. It’s democracy functioning.”
