Censorship in the Kingdom of Italy

Censorship in the Italian Social Republic is implemented or mandated by the ISR's ruling party, the National Fascist Party (PNF). Notable censored subjects include but are not limited to, democracy, ethnic independence movements, corruption, police abuses, anarchism, leftism, liberalism, some gossip, child pornography, news sources that report on these issues, foreign religious content. Censored media include essentially all capable of reaching a wide audience including television, print media, radio, film, theater, text messaging, instant messaging, video games, literature and the Internet. High officials have access to uncensored information via an internal document system.
Censorship in Italy was not created with Fascism, but it became a major issue immediately after the March on Rome. The main goals are:

• Control over the public appearance of the regime, also obtained with the deletion of any content that could allow opposition, suspicions, or doubts about Fascism;
• Constant check of the public opinion as a measure of consensus;
• Creation of a police network of national and local archives in which each citizen is filed and classified depending on their ideas, habits, relationship and any shameful acts or situations which arise;

Censorship fought ideological and defeatist contents, and any other work or content that could enforce disturbing cultural themes.

Censorship in public communications

This branch of the activity is mainly ruled by the Ministry of popular culture (Ministero della Cultura Popolare, Min.Cul.Pop.). This administration has competence on all the contents that could appear in newspapers, radio, literature, theatre, cinema, internet, TV and generally any other form of communication or art.

Theatre and Cinema

Theatre, and in second instance cinema, is considered, by a longstanding policy of the Government, a fundamental centrepiece of the social life. The establishment of troupes and dramatic societies is widely encouraged and almost every public or private body of some consistence has an its own theatre and (amateur) dramatic society. Tickets are often subsidized by Municipalities or by the Government (most often the Ministry of Popular Culture, but also other Ministries) and both playing and attending to plays (of all levels and qualities) is actively encouraged and presented as one among the most pleasant social activities.
Given the high importance the Government attributes to theatre, it is not surprising that the artistic value of the works is an area of interest of censorship. According to censorship criteria, the many trivial foreign productions are prohibited to circulate to the public, but there is an equal prohibition against those Italian productions which, under the pretext of being a national product, seriously damage art and theatre.
Artistic issues aside, the most common reason for the prohibitions, the cuts and changes, is the offense to public morality and decency. Swear words are not normally permitted and, generally, also the terms considered excessively vulgar are prohibited. Politics is a reason well enforced, but it is less significant from a quantitative point of view; thematically, the main areas to be protected are: social peace, institutions and public authorities, state laws, Italian nationality, race relations, international relations, religion, Armed Forces, privacy, family. The social issues, as opposed to political, mythical and religious ones, can be treated in theatrical plays as long as they do not contradict the government line and not make the exaltation of negative patterns. For plays targeting youth, the severity is determined by the fact that this type of show to be highly educational, that is aimed at training social and artistic education of youth.
Special attention is placed by the censor in vetting jokes praising the Duce and Fascism: in farces cutting is mandatory, nor is it allowed that the Empire is celebrated in low level plays such as operettas. Even excessive flattery is banned from the texts; sobriety in the references to the Duce is a tradition founded by Mussolini and taken up by Debalti. The figure of the Duce has therefore a special place among the topics to be treated with due caution and represents for authors and censorship a minefield. Duce Debalti is in fact very uncompromising with the works that inspire to his person, in the fear of undue exploitment attempts. In the case of references to the Duce, the censor returns through the official channels the opera and refers it to the Duce.
For authors of all works, both theatre and cinema, the general rule (although somewhat flexible) is to avoid the setting of negative representations in a well defined historical-political and geographical reality, with the exception of course of the Fascist propaganda. Finally, it is of course forbidden any play, Italian or foreign, of authors who are hostile to Fascism.

Television

Foreign news broadcasts in Italy are occasionally censored by being "blacked out" during controversial segments. All Italian TV stations are sometimes ordered to delay live broadcasts by 10 seconds, a policy that gives censors time to react in case anti-fascist demonstrators or others staged political protests. Foreign animation is also banned from prime-time viewing hours (5 to 8 pm) to help with domestic animation production. Like Internet censorship, enforcement in television censorship is increasingly ineffective and difficult because of satellite signal hacking systems which give direct access to channels and programs on any satellite that services Europe.

Literature

In literature, editorial industries had their own controlling servants steadily on site, but sometimes it could happen that some texts reaches the libraries and in this case an efficient organization is able to capture all the copies in a very short time. An important note deserves the question of foreign languages: with the general maneuver for self-sufficiency they have been banned, and attempts to use a non-Italian word results in a formal censoring action. Censorship does not however impose heavy limits on foreign literature, and many of the foreigner authors are and remain freely readable. Those authors could freely frequent Italy and even write about it, with no troubles.
Since 1930 it has been forbidden to distribute books that contain Marxist, Freemasonry, Liberal or Anarchist like ideologies, but these books are collected in public libraries in special sections not open to the general public. The same happens for the books that are sequestrated. All these texts could be read under authorization for scientific or cultural purposes, and this permission was quite easy to obtain: the main goal is to keep under control the readers, and only to a lesser extent to prevent them.

Press

The Italian press generally self-censors itself before the censorship commission could do it: the Regime feels quite safe, controlling it by the direct appointing of directors and editors through the specific State-sponsored professional association, the "Ordine dei Giornalisti". The Government issues orders on a regular basis to 'guide' coverage of individual sensitive issues.
Illegal press uses clandestine print and distribution, and are mainly connected with the activities of local political anti-fascist groups. The control on legitimate papers is operated by faithful civil servants at the printing machines and this generated a common joke affirming that any text that could reach readers had been "written by the Duce and approved by the foreman". Each printer must submit four copies of each printed (one at the Prosecutor's Office, two at the Prefecture and one at the police station) before spreading. The preventive control causes the self-censorship by journalists.
Fascist censorship promotes papers with wider attention to mere chronology of delicate political moments, to distract public opinion from dangerous passages of the government. All these manoeuvres were commonly directed by MinCulPop directly. About satire and related press, reactions are not so severe.
The judicial authority may order the seizure of the press in the case of news which include the revelation of state secrets, the disclosure of information of which disclosure has been prohibited, incitement of the military to disobey orders or laws, offence and insult to the Duce and to the Pope, offence and insult to the Republic and to the constitutional institutions, offence and insult to the heads of foreign states, offence and insult to the Religion of State, incitement to commit crimes and apology of the same and anti-fascist propaganda and apologetics.
Most important newspapers include "Il Popolo d'Italia", which is the official newspaper of the National Fascist Party, "La Repubblica", founded in mid-1970s by Eugenio Scalfari, with moderate pro-west views, and "Il Corriere della Sera", a stronghold of the liberal elite. the "Corriere", as it is commonly known, is sometimes derogatorily nicknamed "Il Corriere della Serva"; it is a joke about the alteration of the original name, which means "Evening Courier", into the "Servant's Courier", implying that the newspaper is good only for ignorant and non politically-conscious people.

Internet

At least 5,000 websites are blocked from within the country. Certain search engine terms are blocked as well. More recently, through individual negotiations with the Italian government, Wikipedia, Google and YouTube have been opened up for public viewing with certain restrictions for those who access these sites from Italy. The system of blocking sites and articles is referred to as “The Lictor Wall”.
On the Internet, people use proxy websites that allow anonymous access to otherwise restricted websites, services, and information. The Italian largest social media network is called Italian Web Forum (It.: Forum Telematici Italiani, F.T.I.) and it is the official social network, provided by the E.I.A.R., the State-owned television and radio broadcast. The F.T.I., evolving from a servers complex for web forums, offers primarily a free forum base, in which anyone can open any forum, devoted to (almost) any theme, or topic, or hobby, or interest. Alongside the web forums, there are also a social network ("MiPresento") where anyone can have his or her own web page and where it is possible to open also other page types, a blog host (called "MioDiario") and a microblogging network, called "DuePensieri". All these services are completely free, and there are also several platforms for MMORPGs, also partly paid by the E.I.A.R. The large and all-comprehensive social media network was established firstly as a mean to help to develop the internet capacity of Italians; since mid 2000s, the network was maintained and expanded with the western social networks like Facebook or Twitter counter-parts in order to avoid to negotiate with foreign partners to carry out political and police surveillance against antifascists and dissidents.

Censorship in private communications

Any telephone call is at risk of being intercepted and, sometimes, interrupted by censors. Not all the letters are opened, and all those read by censors have the regular stamp that records the executed control.
Chattering en plein air is indeed quite risky, as a special section of investigators deals with what people is saying on the roads; an eventual accusation by some policeman in disguise is very hard to disprove.

Procedure

In most of the small villages, life is not heavily affected by censorship, since the local authorities use a very familiar style in executing such orders. Also in many urban realities, civil servants use little zeal and more humanity. But the general effect was indeed relevant. The censorship work is daily organized, resumed and composed in a note that daily was received by the Chief of Government, by the Duce and by the other major authorities. Notes report what people could think about relevant events, what was the public opinion in Italy, similar arguments.

Social reaction against censorship

Italians are generally well aware of the fact that any communication could be intercepted, recorded, analyzed and eventually used against them; this has been caused, since the 1920s, that censorship is a sort of usual rule to consider, and since the same time most people has used jargons or other conventional systems to overtake the rules.
The little, but still present, open opposition is expressed in satiric ways or with some studied legal tricks.

Subject matter and agenda

Censorship in Italy encompasses a wide range of subject matter. The agendas behind such censorship are varied; some are stated outright by the Government itself and some are surmised by observers inside and out of the country. Regulations include a full database of people who engage in unhealthy professional conduct who are excluded from engaging in news reporting and editing work.

Political

Censorship in Italy is largely seen as a measure to maintain the rule of the Duce and the preminence of the P.N.F. Censorship helps prevent unapproved reformist, separatist, subversive, or materialist ideas, peaceful or otherwise, from organizing themselves and spreading. The main areas to be protected are: social peace, institutions and public authorities, state laws, Italian nationality, race relations, international relations, religion, Armed Forces, privacy, family. The social issues, as opposed to political, mythical and religious ones, can be debated more openly.
Additionally, censorship prevents Italian citizens from discovering or learning more about past and current failures of the P.N.F. that could create or inflame anti-government sentiment. Measures such as the blocking of foreign governments' websites may also be intended to prevent citizens from learning about alternative systems of governance and demanding similar systems.
Italy also bans materials showing history that conflicts with the official version. Usually, people are allowed to talk about politics on the internet, but certain websites containing anti-government material are blocked.
In recent years, censorship in Italy is used not only for political protectionism but also for economic and military protectionism.

Public decency

Usually, the public decency censorship is employed to prevent political conflicts from happening within the social environment. Some censorship in Italy has been justified as upholding proper morals. This includes limitations on pornography, particularly paedophile press, paedophile pornography, extreme pornography and excessive violence in films.

Cultural

Italy has historically sought to use censorship to 'protect the Italian culture'. Continuing crackdowns on banning foreign cartoons from Italian prime time TV, and limits on screening for foreign films are a continuation of cultural-minded censorship. Theatrical and cinema works are carefully screened.

Religious

A number of foreign religious texts, publications, and materials are banned or have their distributions artificially limited. Foreign citizens are also prohibited from proselytizing in Italy, and information concerning the treatment of some religious groups is also tightly controlled. In particular, Islamic proselytism outside Italian-controlled Sinai and Libya is carefully monitored, and all proselytism not authorized by the Benghazi Ulama Council (Arabic: مجلس علماء بنغازي Majlis Eulama' Binghazi; Italian: Consiglio degli Ulema di Bengasi) is banned.

Ministry of Popular Culture

The Ministry of Popular Culture (It.: Ministero della Cultura Popolare, commonly abbreviated to Min.Cul.Pop.) is a ministry of the Italian Government from 1937. It controls most of the media channels in Italy and supports the Ministry of National Education in the cultural activities.
The Fascist Regime, facing enduring internal threats, since the fascist roll-back of early 1990s has pursued the externalization of threats directed at it, in order both to portray such threats as "illegitimate" (in the sense that they emanate from abroad and violate the norm of the Italian sovereignty) and to portray its repressive actions as "legitimate". The censorship technical activity is carried out by the Ministry itself; the repressive activity is carried out by Division XIII - Technical Services and Telecommunications and Post Police.

Activity and Organization

The activity of the Ministry focuses on five main fields: censorship, propaganda (both at home and abroad), ordinary cultural promotion and activities (both at home and abroad), tourist promotion (mostly abroad) and operating mass media (i.e. web platforms, radio and official tv channels). It also maintains relationships with the cultural Corporations, who provide most of technical personnel.

• Minister and Minister's Cabinet and Staff offices;
• Under-secretaries;
• Secretary General and General Secretariat;
  • Service I - Coordination and General Affairs:
  • Service II - International Activities;
  • Service III - Research and Inspections;
• Directorate General of General Affairs and Personnel;
  • Division I - Emergency Communications: in charge of civil mobilization announcement.
• Directorate General of Accounting Services;
• Directorate General of Italian Press: provides political directives and guidelines, as well as censorship; its fields covers all written activity, but it not covers cultural promotion.
  • Division I - Newspapers;
  • Division II - Periodical magazines;
  • Division III - Books;
  • Division IV - Racial Propaganda;
  • Division V - PNF Press Office.
• Directorate General of Imperial Press: provides political guidance and censorship to the press of the Italian Empire;
• Directorate General of Foreign Press: deals with foreign press;
• Directorate-General for the landscape, fine arts, architecture and contemporary art;
  • Semiprecious Stones Workshop.
• Directorate-General for Antiquities and the Promotion of cultural heritage;
• Directorate-General for libraries, cultural institutions, copyright and promotion of written culture.
  • Central Institute for the Unified Catalogue of Italian Libraries and for Bibliographic Information
• Directorate General of Propaganda, Cultural Exchanges and Proactive Communication of the Italian Culture: it cooperates with Italian bodies operating abroad, such as the C.A.U.R., the Dante Alighieri Society, the Italian Culture Institute and the Fascist Culture Institute; it is primarily responsible for sending propaganda and fascist cultural resources abroad. Subordinate Divisions are coordinated by five Geographical Offices directly subordinated to the Director-General;
  • Division I - General Propaganda: propaganda elaboration and diffusion;
  • Division II - Radio Propaganda: deals with radio-phonic propaganda abroad;
  • Division III - Arts and Cinematography: controls movies and artistic exhibitions abroad;
  • Division IV - General and Special Affairs: deals with cultural action against Liberalism and Communism;
  • Division V - Cultural Exchanges: deals with bilateral or multilateral cultural exchanges outside educational fields.
• Directorate General of Cinemas and Theatres: provides censorship and political guidance for theatres, cinemas, cinematographic and theatre credit and support, technical assistance to P.S. in order to grant authorization for openings, organization of cinematographic and theatrical events. The Directorate General also operates Cinecittà, but it does not directly produce a State cinematography. It also operates the Istituto Luce and the National Institute of Ancient Drama.
• Directorate General of Toursim: it operates both the National Tourism Agency (Ente Nazionale per il Turismo) and the subordinated Provincial Tourism Agencies.
• Directorate General of Musical Production: it operates the State Discotheque and deals with private dancing locations, also in support to the police.
• Directorate General of Web Communications: operates State-controlled web platforms (such as the Italian Web Forum), as well as the “The Lictor Wall”; it also keeps an eye on the Internet.
• Directorate General of Television and Radio: operates the E.I.A.R. and provide political guidance and censorship to privately-owned television channels and radio broadcasting.

National Commission for Censorship

The National Commission for Censorship is the central body to apply censorship in some fields (musical production, cinematoghaphy, national radio and tv production) and to carry out reviews and hear appeals against decisions of the Provincial Commissions dealing with the remaining fields. The Commission consists of four Single Sections (Sezioni Uniche, i.e. of first instance and without appeal) and several Higher Sections (Sezioni Superiori, i.e. of second instance in order to carry out reviews of decisions issued by the Provincial Commission).
Each Section consists of a representative of the Ministry of Popular Culture, a State attorney, a representative of the P.N.F., an official of the Administrative Police Division and a representative of the National Union of Fascist Authors and Writers expert in the relevant field.
The Presiding Committee of the National Commission consists of the Advocate General at the Court of Appeal of Rome, the head of the Administrative Police Division, of all the concerned Directors-General of the MinCulPop and of the President of the National Union of Fascist Authors and Writers. The Committee has the task to elaborate and issue operational guidelines and to implement those elaborated by the relavant Directorates-General.

Provincial Commission for Revision of Books and Press

The Provincial Commission for Revision of Books and Press is concerned with the local press censorship, of political and religious, cultural, economic, financial, medical and technical type. The Commission consists of an official of the prefecture, a police commissioner, a journalist representative of the National Union of Fascist Authors and Writers and an official of the Ministry of Popular Culture. The Provincial Commission may have subordinate Sections in order to comply with the workload. Each Section has the same powers of the whole Provincial Commission (although it operates in a delegation regime) and has dedicated personnel (e.g. the Financial Press Section has a financial journalist or an economist).

Provincial Commission for Revision of Local TV and Radio

The Provincial Commission for Revision of Local TV and Radio is concerned with the local tv and radio censorship, of all types. The Commission consists of an official of the prefecture, a police commissioner, a representative of the Corporations of the Entertainment Operators and an official of the Ministry of Popular Culture.

Provincial Commission for Revision of Theatres

The Provincial Commission for Revision of the Press is concerned with the local theathrical censorship, of any type. The Commission consists of an official of the prefecture, a police commissioner, a theathre writer representative of the National Union of Fascist Authors and Writers and Authors and an official of the Ministry of Popular Culture.
Censorship works in three ways: it can approve or outright prohibiting a job; It may dismiss it at first, but consider it allowable if reworked by the author as indicated by the censor; It may finally authorize the appropriate modifications or cuts. The script is returned to the sender with the permit; if it is not authorized, the script is accompanied by a mandatory ban, or by a letter with advice and suggestions on changes. The Commission may also visit a work definitively only for a theater in a deteiminata cities, often for art-house halls.

Related voices

• Internet in the Italian Social Republic