Rassegnata Stampa

i wonder why the italian prime minister silvio berlusconi (i'd really love not to talk, write and think about him, but he is always on the crest of a wave) chose to start a legal action against el pais. he asked to block those pictures as 'body of evidence', so that in italy no media can't publish them. that's law, folks! if something is a body of evidence press can't spread it. but this is for italy. what if a foreign legal proceeding rule would be actual in italy? maybe the european court will be asked to analyse the issue and block or allow the proceeding against el pais.

on the formal and legal side of this story, it is true that mr. berlusconi's privacy has been violated. but there is a public interest to spread what it has been discovered by the photoreporter Antonello Zappuddu, especially because it has been proved that public flights have been used also by musicians and dancers hosted by the prime minister in his villa. and because he is the guide (political and in some ways moral) of italy.

after the announcement against el pais, mr. berlusconi decided to denounce the mildly left-sided la repubblica newspaper too because it published those famous pictures on its website and then on the newspaper. repubblica photo editors took screenshots of el pais photos, saving the 'el pais' headline. unfortunately, yesterday i could not see if the pictures published on the printed version of la repubblica had the el pais headline or not. as a colleague told me, they did not save el pais headline.

anyway, il corriere della sera made the same: on the online version of the milan-based (and most influential) newspaper website there where small screenshots of the seized (censored) photos. and the same did the il sole - 24 ore newspaper's website.

so, why mr. berlusconi announced that he will proceed against el pais and la repubblica but not against il corriere and il sole - 24 ore too, if they pasted the same screenshots? we will see if the proceedings will be validated or not. editor chiefs of both corriere della sera and il sole - 24 ore have been recently nominated and they (seem to) have assumed a not-so-strict position towards the prime minister. the newspapers they edit have always been balanced. but it sounds sad that they (till today) have a different treatment from the government.

on the other hand, on 5th june the italian prime minister spoke at the political programming on the public tv channel rai 3. unfortunatly i could watch that solo-match, but people who watched it told me (or wrote on their blog) about that. the chief editor asked the prime prime minister to compare the domestic voting rule to the one for european parliament elections, and then to show how to vote. as i was told, mr. berlusconi showed it on a specimen voting paper... crossing his party simbol.
at the end the 'journalist' said they have just a minute and a half more and when mr. berlusconi asked 'may i use it then?', she replied with simple, clear words: 'sure, you are the house master here'.

enrico mattei, the founder of italian public energy company, used to say: 'i use political parties as cabs'. it sounds terribly actual if you change 'political parties' with 'media' or 'journalists'.

Labels: live from italy