Berlusconi hits back at censorship claims

Article reports that Silvio Berlusconi, the Italian Prime Minister and media baron, went on the offensive on the 15 March 2010 against allegations that he had tried to censor Rai, the state broadcaster, and denounced investigating magistrates who are reported to have intercepted his telephone calls.

Critics of Mr Berlusconi used the controversy to highlight Mr Berlusconi’s influence on television through his control of Mediaset, Italy’s main private broadcaster, and his political appointments to the state broadcaster, government ministers focused instead on what they called the illegal tapping of his conversations and the leaks of the alleged transcripts.

ANSA, 15.3.10: Berlusconi asks if probed http://www.ansa.it/web/notizie/rubriche/english/2010/03/15/visualizza_new.html_1733822840.html

ESO: Background information: Berlusconi wins reprieve http://www.europeansources.info/record/berlusconi-wins-reprieve/

Deutsche Welle, 16.3.10: Berlusconi is said to be under investigation for trying to gag critical media http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,,5360322,00.html

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