Bulgarian Edict

The Editto bulgaro (English: "Bulgarian Edict"), also referred to as "the Bulgarian Diktat" or "the Bulgarian Ukase" in Italian newspapers, was a statement of Silvio Berlusconi, at the time Prime Minister of Italy, about the behavior of some journalists and television stars in the Italian media system, which was pronounced during a press conference with Simeon Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, at the time Prime Minister of Bulgaria, on 18 April 2002. It was soon followed by the removal from the air of the people Berlusconi had referred to: journalists Enzo Biagi and Michele Santoro, and comedian Daniele Luttazzi.

L'uso che Biagi -- come si chiama quell'altro...? Santoro, ma l'altro... Luttazzi -- hanno fatto della televisione pubblica, pagata coi soldi di tutti, è un uso criminoso. E io credo che sia un preciso dovere da parte della nuova dirigenza di non permettere più che questo avvenga.

The use that Biagi – what's the name of the other one? Santoro, but the other one ... Luttazzi – have made of public television, paid with everyone's money, is criminal. I believe that it is a precise duty of the new management [of RAI] to prevent this from happening again.

After this statement, the then-new management of RAI cancelled Biagi's, Santoro's and Luttazzi's respective shows, officially because "they were no longer competitive" (though the figures portrayed very good results). Biagi and Santoro were allowed to work with RAI after Berlusconi's House of Freedoms was defeated in the 2006 Italian general election, but Daniele Luttazzi is still banned from RAI. He went back on television briefly when the La7 network hired him in 2007.

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