Enzo Biagi, 87; veteran Italian journalist was a ‘great voice of freedom’

Enzo Biagi, 87, a veteran Italian newspaper and TV journalist and prolific author whose straightforward writing style stood out in a country where journalistic prose is often dense and convoluted, died Tuesday in Milan.

For years, Biagi -- with his white hair, thick-framed eyeglasses and calm voice -- was a dinner-hour staple on Italian TV, offering his commentary on the top stories of the day. With his death, “a great voice of freedom” vanishes, President Giorgio Napolitano said.

Born in Lizzano in Belvedere, an Apennine town near Bologna, Biagi started working as a reporter when he was 18 and covered the Allied forces’ liberation of Italy several years later.

Later, in Milan, he directed a news weekly, Epoca, and began working in television.

Biagi alternated TV work with writing books -- several of them bestsellers -- and articles for newspapers including La Repubblica, Corriere della Sera and La Stampa.

One of his most popular state TV programs ended in 2002 after heavy criticism from then-Premier Silvio Berlusconi.

Berlusconi accused Biagi and two other journalists critical of his conservative leadership of making “criminal use” of publicly funded television to push a left-leaning agenda.