On Berlusconi Libel Suit, a Modest Suggestion

Say what you will about him, but Silvio Berlusconi is a man of his word. This morning, the 72-year-old Italian prime minister's lawyer announced that Berlusconi is making good on his promise to pursue legal action against the myriad media outlets that have delighted in publishing photos and accounts of sexual antics that would make Jean-Claude Van Damme blush. Per Reuters, he is filing libel suits against newspapers in Italy, France, Spain, and Britain. The charges:

Lawyers acting for Berlusconi had sued the French weekly Nouvel Observateur for a story headlined "Sex, Power and Lies" and Spain's El Pais for publishing photos of guests at the billionaire premier's Sardinian villa cavorting naked.

In Italy they have sued La Repubblica, a tireless critic of the conservative leader, for repeating the Nouvel Observateur story and for defaming Berlusconi by repeating daily its "10 Questions" about his private life and political aspirations.

[British papers, which could also face lawsuits,] have taken a special interest in the scandals over Berlusconi's relationship with a teenage girl, prostitutes and divorce from his second wife.

Where does one even begin? This WON blogger is not normally sympathetic to tabloid-like obsessions with leaders' private doings. And she is certainly not eager to hear the gory details. But Berlusconi's offenses are no ordinary affairs. While some politicians keep their sexual politics in the bedroom, Berlusconi has made a consistent point of tying a woman's worth to her sexuality; as one female Italian academic pointed out in the NYT yesterday, he's appointed former starlets to government posts, flirted with female officials, and boasted about the physical features of his party's candidates.

Indeed, at the very same time he was filing his lawsuits, he presented the world with yet another case in point. Berlusconi's people also announced that he nixed a potentially awkward meeting with the Vatican's No. 2 man in the earthquake-hit city of L'Aquila, less than three hours before it was set to happen. Why? It may have something to do with the fact that Berlusconi was planning to participate in a religious service for─wait for it─the remission of sins. It may also have to do with the guest he chose to bring with him to the ceremony: Mara Carfagna, his equal-opportunities minister, a former model and TV personality to whom the premier once publicly professed: "If I weren't married, I'd marry you."

To recap: A man already rebuked by the Vatican for his behavior. Bringing his crush. To a religious ceremony on sin. In a town recently devastated by an earthquake. The man is his own worst enemy.

What's more, his was no ordinary reaction to tawdry media coverage. Berlusconi owns Italy's leading private media networks. Not surprisingly, his television stations are a case study in female objectification, showing scantily clad women as decorative sidekicks to older, fully dressed, authoritative men. Privately, that's his prerogative. But given how extensive his media holdings are─and how much of the news he controls through those television, magazine, book, and newspaper holdings─Berlusconi's legal offensive seems to have more to do with a sense of entitlement in exerting control of his message than with any substantive concern about truth and libel.

In closing, here is a humble suggestion for the prime minister: if you’d like newspapers to stop running photos of you cavorting with naked 20-somethings, please, for everyone's sake, stop cavorting with naked 20-somethings. When sex is an integral part of your politics, it is fair game in the news cycle. Basta, Berlusconi.