Freedom of press: Case Berlusconi

[misgfool]

Italian prime minister was photographed during his travels. After the Italian press was forbidden to publish the pictures, the Spanish press did not have the same problem. Freedom of press triumphed this time. Power definitely has interesting perks.

Warning, images may be too much for too conservative.

[yeah, they are - link deleted]

[MATLABdude]

[QUOTE=misgfool;2226111]Italian prime minister was photographed during his travels. After the Italian press was forbidden to publish the pictures, the Spanish press did not have the same problem. Freedom of press triumphed this time. Power definitely has interesting perks.

Warning, images may be too much for too conservative.

[link deleted]

Isn't this more of an issue pertaining to lack of jurisdiction rather than freedom of the press?

Nevertheless, an interesting figure. I read an interesting comment a while back (can't remember where) where someone accused Berlusconi of being a fascist. Then someone else responded that he was more like a mix of Nixon (extreme secretiveness and paranoia) along with Rupert Fox (right wing media mogul).

There was a fascinating back-and-forth at The New Republic where a contributor noted the positive spin on Berlusconi's international faux pas (http://www.tnr.com/politics/story.html?id=bbf1ea0c-0149-404b-af42-064230f40978), and got rebuked by an Italian writer who works for one of Berlusconi's outlets (http://www.tnr.com/politics/story.html?id=24a165bf-25bb-4280-90f0-dad726e3dea8).

[misgfool]

Isn't this more of an issue pertaining to lack of jurisdiction rather than freedom of the press?

I can't see the difference.

[rootX]

- He's a man
- He has money

Power definitely has interesting perks.

Isn't this coming from his personal income (not from the government office)?

[misgfool]

Isn't this coming from his personal income (not from the government office)?

Power can be financial or administrative or both. However, the case was of course that he was able to forbid the publication of the photos in Italy. One needs more than money to do this.

[rootX]

Power can be financial or administrative or both. However, the case was of course that he was able to forbid the publication of the photos in Italy. One needs more than money to do this.

I don't know what Media achieves by publishing these photos. Other case (which is different but nonetheless same thing):
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5gZ3hhQqYS_WOLb2ltFyKWz2dupdwD98JKNHO1

And if this is really press freedom to publish stories about other people personal lives.


Had it been something like:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EetQPS3_NbQ
"UAE torture tape from ABC news." (requires youtube account)* but here's the story:
http://www.uaetorture.com/index.php?page=nabulsi-s-story
it would have made more sense.

[misgfool]

And if this is really press freedom to publish stories about other people personal lives.

Highly public and influential figures don't have the same privileges with their personal lives as others do. This is especially true for modern politicians. Politics is about character not substance. People have the right to know does the talk correspond with actions.

[f95toli]

he was able to forbid the publication of the photos in Italy.
I don't that is quite correct. There are quite strickt laws against invasion of privacy in Italy (specifically designed to target paparazzi), and Berlusconi's lawyers simply managed to convince a judge that someone using a telephoto lens to photograph what was in fact a private party was indeed an invasion of privacy.
Now, I am not saying that his power/influence wasn't a factor; but it was not a simple case of him just being able to control the media.