Enzo Biagi

Enzo Biagi (August 9, 1920 – November 6, 2007) was an Italian journalist and writer.

Biography

Biagi was born in Lizzano in Belvedere, and began his career as a journalist in Bologna. Active in journalism for six decades and author of some eighty books, Biagi won numerous awards, among which the 1979 Saint Vincent prize. He worked on the Italian national TV channel Rai Uno until 2001.

On May 9, 2001, just two days before the general elections in Italy, during his daily prime time 10-minute TV show "Il Fatto", broadcast on Rai Uno, Biagi interviewed the popular actor and director Roberto Benigni, who gave a hilarious talk about Silvio Berlusconi declaring his preference for the other candidate, Francesco Rutelli from the Olive Tree coalition. [cite news|url=http://www.repubblica.it/online/politica/saticinque/benigni/benigni.html|author=La Repubblica|title=Benigni, show tv anti Cavaliere|language=Italian]

Biagi disappeared from TV screens a few months after Berlusconi's declarations in Sofia named also Editto Bulgaro, where the then-Prime Minister accused the popular journalist, together with fellow journalist Michele Santoro and showman/comedian Daniele Luttazzi, 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, stating "If I don't enter politics, I will go to jail and become bankrupt." [cite book|first=Alexander |last=Stille|title=The Sack of Rome|publisher= Penguin|location=New York|year=2006]

On April 22, 2007, 86-year-old Enzo Biagi made his TV comeback on the RAI with "RT - Rotocalco Televisivo", a current affairs show which is broadcast on Raitre. At the opening of the show, he declared:

Good evening, sorry if I am a bit emotional, maybe it is visible. There has been a technical problem, and the break has lasted five years.

Until shortly before his death he was also a columnist for the daily Italian newspaper "Corriere della Sera", which he had worked for since the early 1970s.

References

External links

* [http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/obituaries/article2979581.ece Obituary in "The Times", 1 December 2007]
* [http://www.rotocalcotelevisivo.rai.it/ "RT - Rotocalco Televisivo" website] it icon
* [http://www.comunitazione.it/leggi.asp?id_art=255 Enzo Biagi, a political affair] it icon
* [http://www.ilfatto.rai.it/ "Il fatto" di Enzo Biagi ("The event" by Enzo Biagi)] it icon
* [http://www.legacy.com/Obituaries.asp?Page=APStory&Id=13625 Associated Press: Enzo Biagi obituary] (Published Nov. 6, 2007)