Prepotency and hubris
Italian Prime Minister Berlusconi is always good for a story—whether political or social, serious or scandalous. When it comes to media presence, Berlusconi leaves all other European leaders in the dust. Guest commentary by Stephan Russ-Mohl, director of the European Journalism Observatory at the University of Lugano.
If there was a gold medal for media presence, Silvio Berlusconi would undoubtedly be a serious contender alongside Barack Obama. The Italian prime minister and media mogul provides "reliable surprises" on an almost daily basis, as media researcher Klaus Schönbach expects from newspapers. Berlusconi is omnipresent. The divorce suit and the war of the roses with his wife Veronica, who is allegedly demanding two billion euros, the affair with an underage girl, the paparazzi photos of the parties celebrated at his country estate in Sardinia and the prostitute who publicly gossiped about the 72-year-old's stamina have probably made more smug headlines around the world than the G8 summit in Aquila.
What is interesting, however, is how the omnipotent and prepotent prime minister causes a stir in the media - and which stories are played and how they are not played. The key role in looking through the keyhole is not played by the Italian media, which either belong to Berlusconi or have been more or less successfully intimidated by him. The compromising photos were published by the Spanish newspaper El País, and further details about Berlusconi's private life were gleefully spread by Rupert Murdoch's British tabloid press. It was by no means the Corriere della Sera or Il Sole 24 Ore that compared Italian television's tame coverage of Berlusconi's scandal stories with GDR television in Honecker's time. Instead, the British Guardian took care of that. However, via the foreign press, Italian newspapers also greedily seized on such comparisons, while Il Giornale, the Berlusconi clan's national daily newspaper, for its part attacked Murdoch fiercely.
The perfidious thing, however, is that Berlusconi's shamelessness in his dealings with minors and prostitutes threatens to supplant his no less shameless dealings with power as a media topic: unpopular journalists lose their posts, laws are bent to make criminal investigations impossible, and Berlusconi's corporate empire is repeatedly favored by lawmakers.
Nevertheless, the news magazine L'Espresso recently published a cover story highlighting how Berlusconi's government - rather behind the scenes - is once again setting the parliamentary course that privileges his media empire over his competitor Murdoch. The Cavaliere is being eagerly scandalized by the left-wing camp, to which La Repubblica also belongs, but these attacks are not being taken up on the right of center, even though the measure has long been overflowing and conservatives in particular (including the Catholic Church) would actually have every reason to distance themselves from Berlusconi. However, the prime minister, who is increasingly mutating into a potentate plagued by hubris, will hardly vacate his post voluntarily. If he no longer enjoys political immunity, he would once again have to fear prosecution. Once toppled from his pedestal, the politicized and unpredictable Italian judiciary could put him behind bars for the last few years of his life. This prospect alone is likely to tempt him to cling on to political power tooth and nail.
Italy has long been in danger of suffocating under its gerontocracy. It is no wonder that Berlusconi was re-elected in 2008, given his media dominance and the disintegration and disunity of the Italian left. It is more of a mystery how he was able to lose the election two years earlier.
Among Italian intellectuals, all this is coyly described as an "Italian anomaly". Viewed from the outside, this is a euphemism. Freedom of the press has long been restricted. It is no coincidence that Berlusconi and Putin apparently get on very well. But the Mafia's threat scenarios are also having an effect on journalists, as the specialist journal Problemi dell'informazione has recently documented in a comprehensive special issue. Italy is increasingly losing touch with Europe.
What is interesting, however, is how the omnipotent and prepotent prime minister causes a stir in the media - and which stories are played and how they are not played. The key role in looking through the keyhole is not played by the Italian media, which either belong to Berlusconi or have been more or less successfully intimidated by him. The compromising photos were published by the Spanish newspaper El País, and further details about Berlusconi's private life were gleefully spread by Rupert Murdoch's British tabloid press. It was by no means the Corriere della Sera or Il Sole 24 Ore that compared Italian television's tame coverage of Berlusconi's scandal stories with GDR television in Honecker's time. Instead, the British Guardian took care of that. However, via the foreign press, Italian newspapers also greedily seized on such comparisons, while Il Giornale, the Berlusconi clan's national daily newspaper, for its part attacked Murdoch fiercely.
The perfidious thing, however, is that Berlusconi's shamelessness in his dealings with minors and prostitutes threatens to supplant his no less shameless dealings with power as a media topic: unpopular journalists lose their posts, laws are bent to make criminal investigations impossible, and Berlusconi's corporate empire is repeatedly favored by lawmakers.
Nevertheless, the news magazine L'Espresso recently published a cover story highlighting how Berlusconi's government - rather behind the scenes - is once again setting the parliamentary course that privileges his media empire over his competitor Murdoch. The Cavaliere is being eagerly scandalized by the left-wing camp, to which La Repubblica also belongs, but these attacks are not being taken up on the right of center, even though the measure has long been overflowing and conservatives in particular (including the Catholic Church) would actually have every reason to distance themselves from Berlusconi. However, the prime minister, who is increasingly mutating into a potentate plagued by hubris, will hardly vacate his post voluntarily. If he no longer enjoys political immunity, he would once again have to fear prosecution. Once toppled from his pedestal, the politicized and unpredictable Italian judiciary could put him behind bars for the last few years of his life. This prospect alone is likely to tempt him to cling on to political power tooth and nail.
Italy has long been in danger of suffocating under its gerontocracy. It is no wonder that Berlusconi was re-elected in 2008, given his media dominance and the disintegration and disunity of the Italian left. It is more of a mystery how he was able to lose the election two years earlier.
Among Italian intellectuals, all this is coyly described as an "Italian anomaly". Viewed from the outside, this is a euphemism. Freedom of the press has long been restricted. It is no coincidence that Berlusconi and Putin apparently get on very well. But the Mafia's threat scenarios are also having an effect on journalists, as the specialist journal Problemi dell'informazione has recently documented in a comprehensive special issue. Italy is increasingly losing touch with Europe.
