Basta! posted 10/8/2009 12:58:17 PM | 1 kudo what's this?     report abuse

eastham

Two weeks ago, I read Alexander Stille’s 2006 biography of Silvio Berlusconi, The [/I]. Stille did not paint a pretty picture of Berlusconi nor the flaws in the Italian legal system that has allowed a man with dozens of indictments and convictions in the lower courts to not only be elected president of the country, but orchestrate the passage of legislation that would protect him from future prosecution. This week that legislation, which specifically exempted the president, prime minister and the speakers of both houses of parliament from prosecution, was declared unconstitutional.

For those of you unfamiliar with Berlusconi or who think he’s some sort of love child of an oompa-loompa and Count Dracula (orange fake tan, plus hair plugs and shoe polish), let me give you a tutorial.

Berlusconi is a lounge singer turned real estate developer turned sports team owner, turned media mogul. Through mergers and acquisitions, Berlusconi now controls about 90% of the media in Italy. 90% is not a typo. Berlusconi owns outright the majority of privately held television networks in Italy as well as most of its major newpapers and magazines, several major insurance companies and one of its most famous sports teams, AC Milan. As Stille writes, it would be as if Bill Gates owned all but one of the major networks, the New York Times, the LA Times, HBO, Time Warner and the New York Yankees. Berlusconi makes Murdoch seethe with jealousy.

Indirectly as the head of government, he controls the state-run television, RAI, as well. His political competitors are literally boxed out of the media. They are not covered on news programs (unless it’s an unflattering piece) and they cannot buy advertising on any of his networks. The importance of this cannot be stressed enough as polls indicate that 70% of Italians get their news and especially their political news from television rather than the print media. But even if they did obtain their news from print media, Berlusconi owns much of that as well, openly flouting the Mammi law – the law regulating how much media ownership can rest in one hand.

Indeed, if you were to delve into Berlusconi’s past to try to understand why he, a “successful” businessman would enter politics, you would learn that his reasons for forming Forza Italia (his political party, complete with a theme song penned by the former lounge lizard) are strictly personal and professional – to keep anti-trust legislation from breaking up his company Finivest (96% owned by Berlusconi and family) and to keep his butt out of jail. Prior to forming his own political party, Berlusconi had been content to line the pockets of Italy’s Bettino Craxi and other members of the Italian Socialist Party that ran Italy for many years. Berlusconi’s relationship with Craxi paved the way for the dismissal of tax fraud charges, criminal conspiracy with the Sicilian mafia, bribery of local officials, etc. When Craxi fell, Berlusconi capitalized on the political death of his old friend and ran for office as a political outsider untainted by corruption.

But all of this could go away. Indeed, 2009 could be Berlusconi’s annus horribilis. Earlier this year, Berlusconi’s wife of 19 years announced she was sick of the parade of topless models named to prominent government positions and legislative seats and would be divorcing her philandering spouse; a prostitute frequented by Berlusconi published transcripts of their love tapes; and most importantly, the ruling of Italy’s constitutional court that Berlusconi is not exempt from prosecution. The court’s ruling reopens two corruption charges against Berlusconi and reinvigorated his political opponents, including President Giorgio Napolitano, to move against Berlusconi.

Enough is enough. Berlusconi should be shown the door.

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