Italian public TV: new agreement including commitment to tackle hate speech

Il European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) rilancia in inglese la notizia del nuovo contratto di lavoro giornalistico che mette al centro diritti e valori

The Italian public television RAI, Rai Journalists Trade Union (Usigrai) and the Italian EFJ affiliate, FNSI (Federazione Nazionale della Stampa Italiana), signed a new collective agreement to extend the national labour contract to journalists working in public media. For the first time, the agreement includes an ethical commitment to combat hate speech, discrimination and racism, as well as a commitment to promote gender equality and the rights of minors.

This 2018-2022 agreement, signed on the 13th of March, aims to reverse the trend among media organisations to use right-grabbing contracts and provide unfair remuneration to journalists. It will include:

1. a reduction of fixed-term contracts to 36 months in order to reduce the pay gap between young and experienced journalists;
2. an update of the Charter of rights and duties in order to improve gender equality and to fight any kind of discrimination by including the principles of the Charter of Rome, the Charter of Treviso, the Venice Manifesto and the AgCom (Communications Regulatory Authority) Resolution about hate speech;
3. the promotion of social cohesion and quality of public service as a concrete commitment, anticipating the demands of the new Service Contract (The Public Broadcasting Licence Renewal) signed between Rai and the Government and published on the 8th of March 2018.