Berlusconi lives...!

[ronald]

Knowing Mr. B he will use that to his advantage - saying to the "italian people" - "you see I am so busy trying to save you that I had to sacrifice some of my personal wealth. Obviously if I focused just on my business this would have not happened"

[giovanni]

Originally Posted by ronald

Knowing Mr. B he will use that to his advantage - saying to the "italian people" - "you see I am so busy trying to save you that I had to sacrifice some of my personal wealth. Obviously if I focused just on my business this would have not happened"

I am not sure that would go down too well. Afterall 60,000,000 people in Italy are poorer by a few billion.......

[ronald]

...and yet roughly half vote for him every time

[Nardini]

Originally Posted by giovanni

I am not sure that would go down too well. Afterall 60,000,000 people in Italy are poorer by a few billion.......

Sadly, I fear that Ronald is right - after all, Berlusconi owns and controls the main body of media here in Italy, so he is highly adept at advertising himself in a way that seems to appeal to the majority. Memory being what it is here, many people have already forgotten the mess he created the last time he was in power - not that he ever lost power, really. Control of the media is the key to infusing your product into the mind of the hapless consumer - it is called advertising! The product? Tar-top!

[Nardini]

Originally Posted by ronald

...and yet roughly half vote for him every time

Actually it is only around 30% of the voting public. You shouldn't believe everything that "Fido" says, you know!

[giovanni]

Originally Posted by ronald

...and yet roughly half vote for him every time

So did half of America for Bush...... you know what they say......

[ronald]

Nardini - I was impressed about how he eloquently explained precisely this on Vespa last night. He said that it is not fair that the smaller parties get the same air time as the larger ones because that means that they will disproportionately increase their percentage of votes because "obviously" the more one is on TV the more one has the chance to increase their votes.

The fantastic journalists accepted this and moved on and nobody said... "so in that case it would be reasonable to assume that the owner of 3 tv stations, magazines and newspapers would be disproportionately advantaged"

Ok - I have to stop now. I promised myself that I would not get worked up about politics this election. It is all such a mess and the pickings are truly slim

[Nardini]

Originally Posted by ronald

Nardini - I was impressed about how he eloquently explained precisely this on Vespa last night. He said that it is not fair that the smaller parties get the same air time as the larger ones because that means that they will disproportionately increase their percentage of votes because "obviously" the more one is on TV the more one has the chance to increase their votes.

The fantastic journalists accepted this and moved on and nobody said... "so in that case it would be reasonable to assume that the owner of 3 tv stations, magazines and newspapers would be disproportionately advantaged"

Ok - I have to stop now. I promised myself that I would not get worked up about politics this election. It is all such a mess and the pickings are truly slim

Of course, it has to be remembered (please everyone!) that the journalists are employed by the companies that Berlusconi controls, meaning that their jobs are at risk if they are "difficult" to him. One only has to remember Michele Santoro and Enzo Biaggi to see how it works in Berlusconi-land.

Hey ho.

[giovanni]

I think it shows how his mind works,Thats what worries me.Basic fairness to one and all cannot exists in his thourghts

[Torchiarolan]

Originally Posted by ronald

...and yet roughly half vote for him every time

We were in a restaurant in Italy, when we heard on the ubiquitous TV in the corner that the Prodi government fell, most Italians there jumped up delighted and cheered, like a goal in the world cup, thought a table of 7 nearby was going to start a fight they looked and spoke so angrily, anyway it calmed down, and we were advised that the other table were "Prodi supporters"
The evening made an interesting experience for us and illustrated to us how tribal the allegiances can be over there.