Euronews English Article Rating

Is Italy set for a referendum on legalising euthanasia?

Sep 30, 2021 View Original Article
  • Bias Rating

    -4% Center

  • Reliability

    N/AN/A

  • Policy Leaning

    84% Very Conservative

  • Politician Portrayal

    -23% Negative

Bias Score Analysis

The A.I. bias rating includes policy and politician portrayal leanings based on the author’s tone found in the article using machine learning. Bias scores are on a scale of -100% to 100% with higher negative scores being more liberal and higher positive scores being more conservative, and 0% being neutral.

Sentiments

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Bias Meter

Contributing sentiments towards policy:

56% : The association was founded in 2002 by its namesake, Radical Party politician Luca Coscioni, to campaign for the freedom of scientific research, particularly in embryonic stem cells.
56% : While the petition's future - and whether it clears its biggest hurdle in the Constitutional Court - is still pending, it nonetheless represents the biggest outpouring of public support for euthanasia in Italy and has undoubtedly brought the country one step closer to its legalisation.
52% : However, public opinions on the matter have shifted over time, to the point that 92% of Italians declared themselves to be in favour of euthanasia in a survey from 2019, compared to 58% in 1997.
45% : It has a strong influence on one of the tragedies of today's European culture," stated Pope Francis earlier this month, in reference to abortion and growing calls to legalise euthanasia across various European countries.
45% : Furthermore, a landmark ruling by the Constitutional Court on 25 September 2019 - following the case of Fabiano Antoniani ("DJ Fabo"), a disc jockey in his forties who was left severely disabled following a car accident in 2014 and chose to die at a Swiss clinic three years later - has allowed for assisted suicide in certain specific and extreme cases, thus muddying the waters and setting a new precedent.
42% : Coscioni himself died of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) in 2006 at the age of 38, a year after a petition to revoke Italy's law restricting stem cell research triggered a referendum, which failed to reach the 50% voter turnout threshold.
41% : Indeed, a study from December 2019 showed that the majority of Italian doctors were against the legalisation of euthanasia and assisted suicide.
38% : Assisted suicide is a costly affair, with those wishing to leave the country to die in a clinic, especially in neighbouring Switzerland, having to pay approximately €10,000.
37% : It is unsurprising, therefore, that euthanasia should be a controversial issue in a country where almost 80% of the population identifies as Catholic.
28% : The movement has been campaigning against abortion, euthanasia and IVF, alongside a variety of other social and ethical issues, since 1975, and has expressed deep concern at the prospect of a referendum on the matter.

*Our bias meter rating uses data science including sentiment analysis, machine learning and our proprietary algorithm for determining biases in news articles. Bias scores are on a scale of -100% to 100% with higher negative scores being more liberal and higher positive scores being more conservative, and 0% being neutral. The rating is an independent analysis and is not affiliated nor sponsored by the news source or any other organization.

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