Conflicts of interest and media pluralism in Italian broadcasting

Abstract

One key feature of many contemporary European media systems is the high degree of cross-media ownership, provoking intense policy and public debates about how best to safeguard pluralism in the digital environment. In Italy, this is most dramatically highlighted by the rise to political office of Silvio Berlusconi, controlling shareholder of Mediaset, the country's major commercial television company. Berlusconi's re-election in 2001 led to regular and heated political arguments over his so-called conflicts of interest: that Berlusconi has introduced favourable legislation for Mediaset and that he wields a high degree of political influence over the country's main TV broadcasters. This article examines issues relating to conflicts of interest and media pluralism in Italy, analysing key reforms introduced by the Berlusconi government and the implications of these laws for Italian democracy.

Acknowledgements

The author is grateful to the Carnegie Trust for the Universities of Scotland and to the Stirling Media Research Institute for their financial support in conducting interviews for this article. Earlier drafts were presented to the Free University of Brussels, 9th November 2006 and to the RIPE Public Service Broadcasting Conference, Amsterdam, 15–18 November 2006. The author would like to thank colleagues at these events for their constructive feedback, especially Dr Nico Carpentier and Professors Jo Bardoel, Raymond Kuhn and Albert Moran.

Notes

1. In his recent study of Italian television news, Chris Hanretty (2006: 16) argues that Raitre is more biased towards the centre-left than the Pavia studies demonstrate. He argues that RAI's news coverage did not alter radically after the change of Administrative Council in 2002, highlighting a degree of editorial independence for RAI journalists. He also argues that ‘the more general hypothesis that the Mediaset channels taken together are more biased towards the right is confirmed’. I would qualify this statement by saying that Berlusconi's Italia Uno and Retequattro channels are biased towards the centre-right, not Canale 5.

2. In a European parliamentary debate in July 2003 to mark the start of the six-month Italian Presidency of the European Union, and when goaded by a German MEP, Martin Schulz, Berlusconi told him that he would be ‘perfect’ for the role of a concentration camp guard in a forthcoming movie. The remarks caused much consternation across Europe and created embarrassment for Italian officials and parliamentarians (including his own coalition allies). A week later, Berlusconi's Minister for Tourism and Northern League party member, Stefano Stefani, unleashed a stream of vitriol against Germans (Hooper and Aris 2003). The comments of Berlusconi and Stefani created the biggest crisis in German–Italian relations in the post-war period. Moisés Naím (2003) summed up some of the European press comments: ‘A crass buffoon [and] a man of very questionable integrity’ is how The Economist described him. He incarnates ‘nepotism, corruption and dishonesty’ said Denmark's Information, while Aftonbladet, a Swedish daily, dismissed him as ‘an arrogant clown’ and the Berliner Zeitung wrote that he is ‘a shady deal-maker’. France's Libération concluded that he is a ‘threat to liberal democracy’, whereas the Financial Times argued that ‘he lives in a media-bubble where his public gaffes and gratuitous insults go largely unreported at home at least until he goes abroad’. The war of words also extended to the quality of programmes on Italian TV, when Tobias Jones, in an article published in the Financial Times in 2003, wrote that the Italian television studio had replaced the Senate and soft porn had replaced hard news. The article was based on his book (Jones 2003).

3. This interview took place within the electoral period covered by Law No. 28 of February 2000 providing for equal access (Par Condicio) for parties to the media during electoral campaigns. The actor's criticisms of Berlusconi were no worse, however, than many of Emilio Fede's ‘sermons’.

4. For an excellent blow-by-blow account, see Biagi and Mazzetti (2005: 51–125). Relations between Berlusconi and Biagi improved somewhat in April 2007 after Silvio Berlusconi went out of his way to compliment Biagi on his return to television.

5. Government proposals (introduced by Minister for Communications, Paolo Gentiloni) were being discussed by parliament at the time of writing (April 2007).