Berlusconi threatens press after unfavourable coverage at G20 and Nato

Posted by Emma Heald on April 7, 2009 at 9:01 AM

Following negative press coverage of his diplomatic gaffes at the recent G20 and Nato summits, Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi appears to have threatened journalists with reprisals, even implying that he is considering a government-inspired boycott. The most reported faux pas were skipping an official Nato photo and snubbing German Chancellor Angela Merkel by finishing a mobile phone conversation while she waited to greet him, and shouting out to Barack Obama during a photo call at Buckingham Palace, causing the Queen to look round in annoyance.

Speaking to reporters in Prague on Saturday, Berlusconi accused journalists of "defaming me and misinforming readers," and claimed that the Italian press had "no other aim than that of saying the prime minister has committed faux pas or gaffes." He seemed to threaten a news blackout: "I will no longer talk to you... I will no longer give news conferences," and went so far as to admit that he was tempted to call for "direct and tough action towards certain newspapers and members of the press." When asked to explain further he warned, "If I say 'don't watch a TV channel' or something, do you think that no one in Italy would follow me?"

Roberto Natale, president of an Italian journalists' union described Berlusconi's comments as "words of unprecedented gravity," and indeed, such threats cannot be taken lightly in a country in which the prime minister has a notably high level of influence over the press. As pointed out by the Guardian, one of Italy's four national dailies, Il Giornale, is owned by Berlusconi's brother, and many smaller daily newspapers receive state subsidies. Berlusconi also has considerable potential to pressure media proprietors as the global recession has increased the government's presence in Italy's economy and handed the prime minister "vast powers of patronage over the industrialists and financiers who own Italy's other main dailies," the Guardian reported.

The Open Society Institute's recent survey of the European broadcasting landscape condemned the situation in Italy as a "dark farce," in which Berlusconi owns 90% of Italy's commercial broadcasters as well as influencing the public broadcaster RAI. Italy was the only Western European country to be singled out for such harsh criticism. It seems clear that in such an environment the Italian media may well have difficulties in fulfilling its essential role of watchdog in a democratic society. And this may well be a time in which that role is all the more vital: according to Guardian journalist John Hooper, the prime minister's latest remarks "come amid mounting concern among opposition politicians over his apparent impatience with democratic constraints."

Source: Guardian, Telegraph