Italy storm after populist head Grillo blames fake news on media
ROME (AFP) -
Italy's media and traditional political parties were up in arms Wednesday after the head of the populist Five Star movement accused the country's journalists of "manufacturing false news".
Comic Beppe Grillo, founder of the anti-euro movement, lashed out at print and TV journalists, accusing them of fabricating news to keep the Five Stars down.
"Newspapers and television news programmes are the biggest manufacturers of false news in the country, with the aim of ensuring those who have power keep it," he said on his blog on Tuesday.
He called for "a popular jury to determine the veracity of the news published," and said in cases of fake news "the editor must, head bowed, make a public apology and publish the correct version at the start of the programme or on the paper's front page".
Grillo said members of the general public "picked at random" would be shown newspaper articles and programmes and asked "to determine their accuracy."
The blog was accompanied by a montage of the banners and logos of Italy's main newspapers and television news programmes.
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