Enzo Biagi (; 9 August 1920 – 6 November 2007) was an Italian

journalist A journalist is an individual that collects/gathers information in form of text, audio, or pictures, processes them into a news-worthy form, and disseminates it to the public. The act or process mainly done by the journalist is called journalis ...

, writer and former partisan.

Life and career

Biagi was born in

Lizzano in Belvedere Lizzano in Belvedere ( High Mountain Bolognese: ; City Bolognese: ) is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Metropolitan City of Bologna in the Italian region Emilia-Romagna, located about southwest of Bologna. Among the parishes is the church of ...

, and began his career as a journalist in

Bologna Bologna (, , ; egl, label= Emilian, Bulåggna ; lat, Bononia) is the capital and largest city of the Emilia-Romagna region in Northern Italy. It is the seventh most populous city in Italy with about 400,000 inhabitants and 150 different na ...

. In 1952, he worked on the screenplay of the historical film '' Red Shirts''. In 1953, he became the

editor-in-chief An editor-in-chief (EIC), also known as lead editor or chief editor, is a publication's editorial leader who has final responsibility for its operations and policies. The highest-ranking editor of a publication may also be titled editor, managing ...

of '' Epoca'' magazine. Active in journalism for six decades and author of some eighty books, Biagi won numerous awards, among which were the 1979 Saint Vincent prize and the 1985

Ischia International Journalism Award The Ischia International Journalism Award is one of the most important Italian journalism awards. It is organized under the High Patronage of the President of the Italian Republic, the Regione Campania, the Province of Naples, the National Fe ...

. In 1987, he won the

Premio Bancarella The Premio Bancarella is an Italian literary prize established in 1953; it is given in Pontremoli Pontremoli (; local egl, Pontrémal; la, Apua) is a small city, ''comune'' former Latin Catholic bishopric in the province of Massa and Carrara, Tu ...

for his book ''Il boss è solo'', interviewing former

Sicilian Mafia The Sicilian Mafia, also simply known as the Mafia and frequently referred to as Cosa nostra (, ; "our thing") by its members, is an Italian Mafia-terrorist-type organized crime syndicate and criminal society originating in the region of Sicily ...

boss

Tommaso Buscetta Tommaso Buscetta (; 13 July 1928 – 2 April 2000) was an Italian mobster and a member of the Sicilian Mafia. He became one of the first of its members to turn informant and explain the inner workings of the organization. Buscetta participated i ...

, who had turned

pentito ''Pentito'' (; lit. "repentant"; plural: ''pentiti'') is used colloquially to designate collaborators of justice in Italian criminal procedure terminology who were formerly part of criminal organizations and decided to collaborate with a public ...

(state witness). He worked on the Italian national TV channel Rai Uno until 2001. On 9 May 2001, just two days before the general elections in Italy, during his daily

prime time Prime time or the peak time is the block of broadcast programming taking place during the middle of the evening for a television show. It is mostly targeted towards adults (and sometimes families). It is used by the major television networks to ...

10-minute TV show ''Il Fatto'', broadcast on Rai Uno, Biagi interviewed the popular actor and director

Roberto Benigni Roberto Remigio Benigni (; born 27 October 1952) is an Italian actor, comedian, screenwriter and director. He gained international recognition for writing, directing and starring in the Holocaust comedy-drama film ''Life Is Beautiful'' (1997), f ...

, who gave a hilarious talk about

Silvio Berlusconi Silvio Berlusconi ( ; ; born 29 September 1936) is an Italian media tycoon and politician who served as Prime Minister of Italy in four governments from 1994 to 1995, 2001 to 2006 and 2008 to 2011. He was a member of the Chamber of Deputies f ...

declaring his preference for the other candidate,

Francesco Rutelli Francesco Rutelli (born 14 June 1954) is an Italian journalist and former politician, who is the president of ''Anica'', National Association of Film and Audiovisual Industry, since October 2016. He also chairs the "Centro per un Futuro Sostenib ...

from the Olive Tree coalition.

The Bulgarian Edict

Biagi disappeared from TV screens a few months after Berlusconi's declarations in

Sofia Sofia ( ; bg, София, Sofiya, ) is the capital and largest city of Bulgaria. It is situated in the Sofia Valley at the foot of the Vitosha mountain in the western parts of the country. The city is built west of the Iskar river, and h ...

named also Editto Bulgaro, where the then-

Prime Minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister is ...

accused the popular journalist, together with fellow journalist

Michele Santoro Michele Santoro (born 2 July 1951) is an Italian journalist, and television host and presenter. He also served till October 2005 as Member of the European Parliament for Southern Italy with the United in the Olive Tree list, part of the Sociali ...

and showman/comedian

Daniele Luttazzi Daniele Luttazzi (; born Daniele Fabbri on 26 January 1961) is an Italian theater actor, writer, satirist, illustrator and singer. His stage name is an homage to musician and actor Lelio Luttazzi. His favourite topics are politics, religion, ...

, of having made criminal use of the public television service. Biagi's defenders argue that a public service should provide pluralism, and that a country where government prevents opposing ideas from being voiced on air is a régime. The issue of Berlusconi's motives for entering politics in the first place emerged in an interview that he gave with Biagi and

Indro Montanelli Indro Alessandro Raffaello Schizogene Montanelli (; 22 April 1909 – 22 July 2001) was an Italian journalist, historian and writer. He was one of the fifty World Press Freedom Heroes according to the International Press Institute. A volunte ...

, stating "If I don't enter politics, I will go to jail and become bankrupt."

Biagi's return on TV and death

On 22 April 2007, 86-year-old Enzo Biagi made his TV comeback on the

RAI RAI – Radiotelevisione italiana (; commercially styled as Rai since 2000; known until 1954 as Radio Audizioni Italiane) is the national public broadcasting company of Italy, owned by the Ministry of Economy and Finance. RAI operates many ter ...

with ''RT - Rotocalco Televisivo'', a current affairs show which is broadcast on

Raitre Rai 3 (formerly Rete 3) is an Italian free-to-air television channel owned and operated by state-owned public broadcaster RAI – Radiotelevisione italiana. It was launched on 15 December 1979 and its programming is centred towards cultural an ...

. At the opening of the show, he declared: Until shortly before his death he was also a columnist for the daily Italian newspaper ''

Corriere della Sera The ''Corriere della Sera'' (; en, "Evening Courier") is an Italian daily newspaper published in Milan with an average daily circulation of 410,242 copies in December 2015. First published on 5 March 1876, ''Corriere della Sera'' is one of I ...

'', which he had worked for since the early 1970s.

References

External links

Obituary in ''The Times'', 1 December 2007"RT - Rotocalco Televisivo" website

Enzo Biagi, a political affair

"Il fatto" di Enzo Biagi ("The event" by Enzo Biagi)

Associated Press: Enzo Biagi obituary
(Published Nov. 6, 2007) {{DEFAULTSORT:Biagi, Enzo 1920 births 2007 deaths People from the Province of Bologna Italian anti-fascists Action Party (Italy) politicians Italian resistance movement members Members of Giustizia e Libertà Italian television journalists Bancarella Prize winners 20th-century Italian politicians Italian magazine editors Knights Grand Cross of the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic Recipients of Ischia International Journalism Award