You guys are lucky. The closest thing to a bipartisan outlet here only hires right-wingers to laugh at them.
I'll definitely be way more appreciative of the freedoms we have.
I'd also like to point out how Italy handled the issue of media communication during the elections (don't forget Italian governments collapse every few years so this has pretty much become the unspoken code of conduit).
In the year 2000 Italy adopted a law called Par Condicio (equal conditions) where the following applies:
-all radio and tv channels must provide equity and impartiality of coverage during the election
-mandatory time slots for all major political parties on Rai, the public television, at no cost, for a length of 1 to 3 minutes for each (some years ago I watched a candidate for the Trotskyist party talking right before the animal rights/vegan party, though both received like 100 votes each)
- it's illegal to publish or broadcast polls in the timeframe of 15 days before an election; this electoral silence ends right after the polls close nationwide, allowing the distribution of exit polls and then the first real votes. Exit polls are usually extraordinarily close to the actual votes because people aren't afraid to tell they voted Lega or whatever right-wing party.
-in the same 15 days timeframe no politician running in said election can appear on television unless participating to one of previously mentioned debates etc (no Obama slamdunks/Michelle receiving a blowjob from Ellen DeGeneres the day before the election. No actors/popstars/movie directors anywhere.
Just to give you an example of how this works outside an election: yesterday morning there was a tv show with several politicians invited to debate the failure of the countermeasures against the pandemic.
Guests: 2 from the main ruling coalition, 1 from the opposition, 1 conservative and 1 liberal journalist, the governor or a conservative region and the former leader of Italy's Communist party, which dissolved like a decade ago. (The communist ripped the liberal ruling coalition to shreds btw, telling them they're selling the country to the globalists by imposing another lockdown on the small businesses)
Host: centrist host asking unpleasant questions to everyone involved. He interrupted the other guests twice when they avoided answering the question made.
Tv channel: lefty channel with unfunny lefty comedians where you can watch Gone with the Wind, a documentary on the Khmer Rouge and Fahrenheit 9/11 in the same month
And now that I'm reading all of this I guess Italy isn't really too bad after all.
