Tana de Zulueta guardian.co.uk, Sunday 12 April 2009 16:43 BST
Surprised? Outraged? Hard to say. Most Italians simply do not know that during a visit to the earthquake victims Berlusconi compared the experience of families forced to sleep in tents in freezing weather for a trip to Abruzzo campeggio.I newscasts went diplomatically silent on the latest gaffe and newspapers, most of them, followed their example. The good man, after all, just wanted to bring up the morale of many poor people. The only major title was that of the Manifesto: "gaffeur Berlusconi in Italy. The" day camp "scandalous. But only abroad." That's it. Everything is normal, even the spectacle of the Prime Minister who acted for the cameras and the authorities met with a huge fireman's helmet on his head waving to an elderly woman homeless. We assuefatti.Le embarrass Berlusconi make news abroad not in Italy. The incredible trail of written and missteps of our prime minister in Europe, as he tried in every way to enter the spotlight from Barack Obama, left astonished the world and the majority of Italians apparently resigned. It 's an old story that surprises foreigners but not those who know the media situation in Italy. problems usually begin when our ventures abroad. In Moscow last year, as we all remember, greeted the President-elect Obama as "handsome, young and tanned." (By giving voice to the many Italians who were ashamed, Carla Bruni-Sarkozy declared himself happy to no longer be an Italian citizen.) Already in 2003, during a debate in parliament Europe in Strasbourg, Berlusconi had called a German MEP "kapo", as they called the guards in concentration camps, and said he would propose for a part in a film about the camps. In the same year he tried to entice investors in New York with the vehemence of the unrepentant sexist: "Another reason to invest in Italy is that we have beautiful secretaries." The list read more home, however, the image of the premier and his public appearances are carefully maintained. Usually chooses the questions he and his staff handles all his movements. The cameras are located so as to ensure a favorable recovery. It must be remembered that half of the journalists working for him in Italy, and the other half knows that could do a giorno.Attraverso his group Mediaset, Berlusconi and his family controls three private television channels (the advertising company Publitalia also supplies most of the other), two newspapers, a squadron of journals , a cinema chain and the largest book publisher. Concerns of a conflict of interest? E 'was deleted by an ad hoc law that the last breathless government of Romano Prodi did not have time to cancel. Thanks to another law-symbol Berlusconi has passed the Constitutional Court, legalizing its near-monopoly policy and strengthening the dead hand of public service radiotelevisivo.Mentre continued to cause the earthquake victims Abruzzo and suffering, all the high offices of RAI were under discussion. Now that Parliament has agreed on the members of the board of directors, Berlusconi and his allies are focusing on the news. All the heads of the three networks, radio and television news services are at stake. According to tradition, the President of the Council should choose the new head of the TG1. Former owner, who never failed to respect against Berlusconi, even when he was in opposition, has enjoyed a soft landing, with the direction of one of the country's leading newspapers, Il Sole 24 Ore.Dovrebbe worry Italian held that any negotiations for the nomination of top media in the country is so systemic large private newspapers that are involved in the same round of negotiations of public service broadcasting. Nobody has made a turn and the news of the appointment was reported with zeal by all the media of paese.In this situation may no longer makes sense to talk of the media as watchdogs of democracy. There will certainly be excellent television reports on why so many new buildings have collapsed in the last earthquake, despite the anti-seismic force - clearly not met. But these services will almost certainly be aired late at night on the only television channel granted to the opposition. Provided that the new owner of the network deems appropriate to renew the contracts of the best journalists investigativi.Di return from his last tour in London and Strasbourg Berlusconi was furious with the journalists who had described his missteps, threatening "measures". Perhaps the first measure that the prime minister should take is to think before opening his mouth.
Tana de Zulueta
This is an Italian version of a piece That Appeared in the Guardian last Friday, the pertinence REPRINTED given to an Italian readershipguardian.co.uk © Guardian News and Media Limited 2009
