http://gmc.sagepub.

com/
Global Media and Communication
http://gmc.sagepub.com/content/3/1/101
The online version of this article can be found at:

DOI: 10.1177/1742766507074361
2007 3: 101 Global Media and Communication
Paolo Mancini
A publishing success: The literature on Berlusconi

Published by:
http://www.sagepublications.com
can be found at: Global Media and Communication Additional services and information for

http://gmc.sagepub.com/cgi/alerts Email Alerts:

http://gmc.sagepub.com/subscriptions Subscriptions:
http://www.sagepub.com/journalsReprints.nav Reprints:

http://www.sagepub.com/journalsPermissions.nav Permissions:

http://gmc.sagepub.com/content/3/1/101.refs.html Citations:

What is This?

- Feb 21, 2007 Version of Record >>

at UNIV DE GUADALAJARA on August 21, 2014 gmc.sagepub.com Downloaded from at UNIV DE GUADALAJARA on August 21, 2014 gmc.sagepub.com Downloaded from
A publishing success
The literature on Berlusconi
Paolo Mancini
Universit degli Studi di Perugia, Italy
If you expect to read a traditional review of books on Silvio Berlusconi,
you will be disappointed. Berlusconis story as entrepreneur and
politician and the party that he founded are so important for Italy that
one cannot talk about books about him without discussing how these
books enter into todays political debate and struggles and how they play
a role in the diffused practices of public discourse in Italy. Therefore, the
reader will find below not only a synthesis of the most important books
on the former Italian Prime Minister, otherwise known as il cavaliere, an
honorary title he was granted several years ago, but also a review of them
with an attempt to understand how they enter into Italian public debate.
Among the many records that Berlusconi can boast, one might include
that of being the politician about whom the greatest number of books,
that is, the greatest number of negative books, has been written while still
alive. There are very few world leaders who can boast the number of vol-
umes written about themselves that Berlusconi can, volumes that, except
for one, to my knowledge, depict him in a negative way. I must also add
that most of the books on Berlusconi have been bestsellers, testifying to
the existence of a rather vast public interested in criticism of the cavaliere.
The only book that exalts his image deals with Berlusconi the
entrepreneur and was written in 1985, long before his name became
associated with equivocal dealings. Except for this book I maghi del canale
(Wizards of the Channel) (Farinotti, 1985), which recounts the tycoon of
Arcores television adventure in an almost hagiographic way, the liter-
ature regarding Berlusconi is decidedly hostile. Trying to understand the
reasons behind such hostility is a necessary operation to better interpret
the current political situation in Italy and the relations between
Berlusconi and a considerable part of the Italian intelligentsia.
The negative literature on Berlusconi can be divided into two main
types: those books that predominantly analyse the figure of Berlusconi as
REVI EW ARTI CLE
Global Media and Communication [1742-7665(2007)3:1] Volume 3(1): 101108
Copyright 2007 SAGE Publications (London, Thousand Oaks, CA, New Delhi:
http://gmc.sagepub.com)/10.1177/1742766507074361
101
at UNIV DE GUADALAJARA on August 21, 2014 gmc.sagepub.com Downloaded from
entrepreneur (and, therefore, dwell on the allegedly illicit acts that mark
his ascent), and those that focus on the more exclusively political
aspects of his experience. Naturally, there is overlapping between the
two spheres. Separating the economic dimension of the man from the
political one is more or less impossible; his business success has also
been the result of his close relations with politics in which, in turn, he
has managed to have a role of primary importance, thanks to his wealth
and his ownership of television networks.
Regarding his business affairs, the best-known book, the one that
has had the greatest impact on Berlusconis political history, is certainly
Lodore dei soldi (The Smell of Money) (Veltri and Travaglio, 2001).
Written by a young left-wing journalist, Marco Travaglio, and by a
politician, Elio Veltri, also a left-winger with some literary experience,
the book describes the intertwining of politics, the mafia, business and
television that has accompanied Berlusconis success both as entre-
preneur and politician, mainly based on sentences and trial testimonies.
It is well known that the former Prime Minister has been the object of
several criminal proceedings for corruption and on various occasions his
collusion with the mafia and the illicit origin of some of his financing
have been mentioned. Even if, ultimately, a conviction has never been
reached, rumours of this sort have dogged Berlusconis entire career,
both as entrepreneur and as politician. The book by Veltri and Travaglio
is extensively documented and copious and follows the same pattern as
such recent works as Inchiesta sul signor TV (An Investigation of Mr TV)
(Ruggeri and Guarino, 1987); Berlusconi. Gli affari del Presidente
(Berlusconi. The Prime Ministers Affairs) (Ruggeri, 1994); Il venditore
(The Salesman) (Fiori, 1995); and Berlusconi. Una biografia non autorizzata
(Berlusconi: An Unauthorized Biography) (Fracassi and Gambino, 1994).
The book recounts most of the trial proceedings in which Berlusconi
has been involved, underlining unsolved aspects and shedding light,
particularly on open questions regarding the former Prime Ministers
activities. Other important sources for Veltri and Travaglios book are
investigations carried out by other journalists before them. Perhaps the
most important, and also the most moving, passage of the book is a
transcription of the interview that the judge Borsellino (murdered by the
mafia) released to a French television station two months before his
death; it regards the relationship between Berlusconi and DellUtri, one
of his closest collaborators, and a supporter of the Sicilian mafia. Italian
public television refused to broadcast the interview.
In the book by Veltri and Travaglio, the Italian legal system is
implicitly condemned, with examples of its slowness: the books
102 Global Media and Communication 3(1)
at UNIV DE GUADALAJARA on August 21, 2014 gmc.sagepub.com Downloaded from
appendix includes a detailed list of the trials in which Berlusconi was
investigated and most of them either ended because the statute of
limitations ran out or are still open today after many years.
Lodore dei soldi aroused a great deal of interest, largely because it was
the subject of a satirical television programme, Satyricon, which was
shown at the beginning of the campaign for the 2001 general elections
and also because, like other books (cited above), it was the object of a
law suit instituted by Berlusconi himself, in which a final verdict has not
yet been reached. The programme in which this book was discussed was
much debated in the other media and, obviously, criticized by the
centre-right. Other programmes on the same theme followed, as well as
a great number of interventions in the press. Satyricon and Lodore dei
soldi considerably influenced the 2001 campaign, mainly on one princi-
pal issue: Berlusconi and his conflict of interests. Such focusing did not
seem to do the cause of his opponents any good as they lost the election.
Other works are chiefly interested in giving a more political inter-
pretation to the Berlusconi case, placing him within the historical and
political events of the country. The most complete book in this regard is
by Paul Ginsborg, an English historian who teaches at the European
Institute of Florence and is the author of other important books on
Italian history (Ginsborg, 1989, 1998). Silvio Berlusconi: Television, Power
and Patrimony (Ginsborg, 2004), published in both English and Italian,
covers Berlusconis biographical history, describes how he built up his
personal fortune, but mainly dwells on more recent years, starting from
his decision to enter the field. The book aims to explain Berlusconis
political success in the light of the myths, promises and dreams associ-
ated with his life as entrepreneur and sportsman which have influenced
Italian voters. It also examines the various, often unscrupulous, alliances
that Berlusconi has interwoven over the years which have enabled him
to achieve both economic and political success. Ginsborgs is a well-
documented and systematic study by a historian with an excellent
knowledge of Italian society who is able to surpass the many hasty and
often stereotyped interpretations of the Berlusconi phenomenon that, as
the author warns, frequently circulate in the international press.
By his illustration of the Italian case, Ginsborg intends to bring to
light some risks that contemporary democracies run (risks that can be
extended to many other countries): the personalization of politics; the
ever greater role that the mass media plays in the way political debate is
covered; and the consequences of an accentuated process of the com-
mercialization of television. Indeed, frequent references to the situations
in other European democracies are not lacking. Furthermore, the author
Mancini The literature on Berlusconi 103
at UNIV DE GUADALAJARA on August 21, 2014 gmc.sagepub.com Downloaded from
thoroughly explains Berlusconis political vision, associating it with
several interpretations of a form of liberalism that is spreading in many
other countries. Although a substantially negative judgement of the
Berlusconi phenomenon emerges from the book, one must admit that
this appraisal does not seem prejudiced and that its polemic intention is
secondary to an attempt to understand and interpret the facts and
people described.
Of a different tone, although centred on the political aspects of the
Berlusconi affair, is the volume by the eminent Italian economist Sylos
Labini, Berlusconi e gli anticorpi. Diario di un cittadino indignato (Berlusconi
and the Antibodies. Diary of an Angry Citizen) (Sylos Labini, 2003). As
one can deduce from the subtitle, the book tells the story of the
cavalieres misdeeds in no uncertain terms and without allowing any
extenuating circumstances to the former Prime Minister. It also dwells
on decisions made by his government that benefit the wealthiest people
and the biggest tax evaders. Particular attention is paid to the question
of his conflict of interests. This is a central problem in the present Italian
democracy: Berlusconi owns the major private television group and the
decisions of the government often interfere with the interests of his
various businesses, not only television.
Like Labinis work, the noted Italian journalist Giorgio Boccas book
Piccolo Cesare (Little Caesar) (Bocca, 2002) is also written from an angle
that is explicitly political. Both books are pamphlets against Berlusconi
with the clear intention of obstructing his political career by convincing
the reader of the dangers and risks that the Milanese entrepreneur has
brought to the democratic life of the country. Boccas book is different
from the ones so far mentioned as it is also based on his personal
relationship with the former Prime Minister. Bocca worked for Mediaset
television stations for many years and was thus able to meet Berlusconi
personally on various occasions and to experience the world of his
television stations. It is a world, says Bocca, which one identifies with its
owner and with the dreams and myths that he is able to incarnate. It is
from the egocentricity and the infinite self-confidence of the owner of
Mediaset that the title of his book, Little Caesar, is derived.
Inferno TV (Rognoni, 2003), written by journalist Carlo Rognoni, now
a senator and a member of the Board of Directors of RAI, specifically
focuses on television and, in particular, describes the story behind the
approval of the so-called Gasparri Law that has regulated the mass media
system in Italy since 2004. The Law, argues Rognoni, is enormously
advantageous for the Prime Ministers group. Also this is the umpteenth
example of a conflict of interests: the government, then presided over by
104 Global Media and Communication 3(1)
at UNIV DE GUADALAJARA on August 21, 2014 gmc.sagepub.com Downloaded from
Berlusconi, approves a law that favours his own television networks.
Anyone interested in contemporary Italian television should not fail to
read Rognonis book, which is in many ways desperately pessimistic. It
describes the pressures and interventions that were used to assure the
approval of a law that was so dear to the then Prime Ministers heart.
The books discussed above have many common characteristics.
They were written by Berlusconis political opponents, or at least by
journalists or researchers who do not share his worldview. It is not by
chance that in the epigraph of Ginsborgs book, which, as previously
mentioned, is the least biased among the ones analysed, one reads For
my friends and colleagues of the Florentine Laboratorio per la democrazia
(the Laboratory for Democracy, a political group that defended the
autonomy of the judges involved in the 2004 trials against Berlusconi).
In all of these books the political dimension prevails over what can
be described as detachment from the facts; in some of these books,
partisanship is clearly evident while in others, like in Ginsborgs, the
critical dimension emerges from how the reconstruction of the events is
carried out. By this I do not intend to say that the accusations against
Berlusconi are false. However, the main objective of all these books is
undoubtedly that of political attack, which, though it neither lessens
their importance nor discredits them, rather places them within a
precise sphere of publications. In this regard, it should be repeated that,
compared to all the others, Ginsborgs work is more complete and, above
all, tries to interpret the Berlusconi phenomenon by relating it to other
evolutionary factors in society and in Italian politics and tries to draw
lessons from the Italian experience that are also valid for other countries.
The point that I want to stress is the following: undoubtedly
Berlusconi represents a problem for Italian democracy due to the over-
lapping of the interests with which he is identified and for the dubious
legality of some of his actions as entrepreneur. I am not sure, however,
that the main problem is exclusively Berlusconi and that attacks on him
and on what he is identified with and represents can bring positive
results. The books I have discussed represent a part of a more general
attitude of the Italian left which is intent, consciously or unconsciously,
on demonizing Berlusconi and on identifying a large part of the ills of
Italian society with the Milanese entrepreneur. I doubt that this
interpretation is right and that such a position can bring about positive
results.
Demonization of the opponent is part of the traditional culture of
the Italian left and, more generally, it has characterized all Italian
politics, right and left, since the beginning of the last century.
Mancini The literature on Berlusconi 105
at UNIV DE GUADALAJARA on August 21, 2014 gmc.sagepub.com Downloaded from
Demonization of the opponent causes exasperation and radicalization of
the political struggle, but with the risk of distortion and manipulation. A
recently published book illustrates, through the analysis of wall posters,
this tendency in Italian politics since the advent of democracy (Ventrone,
2005). The books I have reviewed here are part of this radicalization of
the Italian political struggle; they insist on demonizing the political
opponent, reinforcing the sharp division between who is for and who is
against Berlusconi. The books discussed are for a reader who is already
opposed to the former Prime Minister; they intend to confirm and
reinforce this opposition. They tend to simplify the political struggle by
identifying a leader who is the demonic opponent. I would like to
underline that I do not intend to re-evaluate or exonerate Berlusconi
here but rather avoid an oversimplified interpretation of the Italian
situation, one that is based exclusively on blame and the role of a single
person who personifies the vices that have been widespread in the
country for a long time.
I also doubt that such radicalization can convince the undecided
and all those who have suspended judgement on Berlusconi. Indeed,
radicalization causes a hardening of positions and opinions; it reinforces
conviction in those who already share viewpoints and generates
rejection in those who do not share them. In short, radicalization, which
is, in my opinion, present in the books reviewed here, does not produce
dialogue among people with different points of view, but rather helps to
further separate conflicting opinions. It does not encourage a dialogue
and therefore possible room for persuasion, but rather usually generates
preconceived rejection.
The distinction between us the good guys and them the bad
guys is part of a consolidated culture of the Italian left. In a recent
book, Perch siamo antipatici (Why We Are Repugnant) (Ricolfi, 2005),
Luca Ricolfi, a leftist sociologist at the University of Turin, dwells at
length on this distinction, that the left has always proclaimed that we
on the left are among the best and they on the right are egoists,
corrupters and wicked. Ricolfi says that this dichotomy has contributed
to making the Italian left seem unsympathetic, repugnant, a left free of
vices and sin, and has distanced it from a relevant part, almost the
majority, of Italian society which is more inclined to compromise. The
demonization of Berlusconi is part of this attitude, as the books I have
discussed state they are on the side of reason and shed light on real and
still unsolved problems; with their insistence on the accusations they
accentuate this supposed dichotomy of a country which is part healthy
and part rotten.
106 Global Media and Communication 3(1)
at UNIV DE GUADALAJARA on August 21, 2014 gmc.sagepub.com Downloaded from
This contraposition has two risky implications for the left. First, it
may be that sooner or later the evil may also involve the left: recently
the CEO of a major insurance company, linked to the party, was accused
of fraud by judges and the text of a telephone call with the secretary of a
left-leaning party was published in the Berlusconi-owned newspapers. A
second risk is that the demonization of Berlusconi implicitly means the
demonization of a large part of Italian society that identifies with the
Berlusconi myths and dreams. Unfortunately, it must be admitted that
this part of Italian society also identifies with some of the controversial
acts that Berlusconi performs in order to gain wealth and personal success.
I do not want to say that Berlusconis actions should be justified.
However, most of the books analysed do not put the Milanese entre-
preneur in the context of some of the historical problems of Italian
society. Accusing only him, for example, of corruption and tax evasion
ignores the fact that such phenomena are quite widespread in Italy, and
especially among a large number of the people who vote for him.
Therefore the books propose a simplistic interpretation of the dynamics
of Italian society in that they attribute ills that are more diffused.
It does not mean that Berlusconi should not be criticized, that infor-
mation regarding his misdeeds should not be circulated or that the eyes
of the Italian citizens should not be opened to the risks that the
countrys democracy faces. However, by being anti-Berlusconi, the Italian
left might be following a losing strategy: it accentuates the polarization
of the Italian political culture which may have contributed to the
creation of the Berlusconi phenomenon.
As I was finishing this review, Citizen Berlusconi by Alexander Stille
(2006), came out, first in English and immediately after in Italian.
Reading this book has been a very interesting experience for at least two
reasons. First of all, it confirmed that all books about Berlusconi tell the
same story: his connections with mafia; his conflicts of interest; his
attempt to have favourable laws approved; his establishment of a new
party to defend his businesses, etc. Reading one of these books is
enough; the others are just redundant.
But Stilles book offers readers something that makes this volume
worthwhile. Stille tries to connect the Berlusconi experience with polit-
ical leaders in other countries, and particularly in the US. The idea that
Stille wants to reinforce is that Berlusconi does not represent anything
special. Looking at the US, Stille finds many similarities with how many
American politicians behave and how the mass media shape reality.
The politics of antipolitics that Berlusconi has spread, is common
to many American political figures:
Mancini The literature on Berlusconi 107
at UNIV DE GUADALAJARA on August 21, 2014 gmc.sagepub.com Downloaded from
the politics of antipolitics has generated a proliferation of new and curious
hybrid figures: the actor-politician (Regan, Schwartzeneger), the millionaire-
politician (Perot, Bloomberg, Corzine, Forbes) and even the fighter-politician
(Jesse The Body Ventura). Berlusconi is a combination of all these figures:
entertainer, celebrity, millionaire and media magnate. (Stille, 2006: 409)
Talking about the everyday language that Berlusconi uses in his
speeches, Stille notes how it is similar, for example, to the gaffes of Bush
that, on the one hand, make him look ridiculous in the eyes of intel-
lectuals but, on the other, bring him closer to ordinary voters.
At the end of his book Stille recognizes that the Italian left, like the
political left in other countries, suffers from a sort of intellectual bias of
which these books are evidence. He writes that
although having economic interests that are radically different from those of
their voters, these politicians (Berlusconi, Bush, Ventura) have been able,
with great effectiveness, to adopt a political language with a wide appeal that
transcends class divisions by means of generic statements regarding religious
faith, family attachment and patriotism, and by projecting a strong virile
image and speaking the clear and simple language of the ordinary man.
(Stille, 2006: 408)
This seems to me a correct analysis of Berlusconis success, a sort of
admission of the problems of his opponents that has to go together with
a description of Berlusconis illegal actions.
References
Bocca, G. (2002) Piccolo Cesare. Milano: Feltrinelli.
Farinotti, P. (1985) I maghi del canale. Milano: Rizzoli.
Fiori, G. (1995) Il venditore. Milano: Garzanti.
Fracassi, C. and Gambino, M. (1994) Berlusconi. Una biografia non autorizzata. Roma:
Avvenimenti.
Ginsborg, P. (1989) Storia dItalia dal dopoguerra a oggi. Torino: Einudi.
Ginsborg, P. (1998) LItalia del tempo presente. Torino: Einaudi.
Ginsborg, P. (2004) Silvio Berlusconi. Television, Power and Patrimony. London: Verso.
Mancini, P. (ed.) (2003) La posta in gioco. Roma: Carocci.
Ricolfi, L. (2005) Perch siamo antipatici. Milano: Longanesi.
Rognoni, C. (2003) Inferno TV. Berlusconi e la legge Gasparri. Milano: Il Saggiatore.
Ruggeri, G. (1994) Berlusconi. Gli affari del Presidente. Milano: Kaos.
Ruggeri, G. and Guarino, M. (1987) Berlusconi. Inchiesta sul Signor TV. Milano: Kaos.
Stille, A. (2006) Citizen Berlusconi. Milano: Garzanti.
Sylos Labini, P. (2003) Berlusconi e gli anticorpi. Diario di un cittadino indignato. Bari:
Laterza.
Veltri, E. and Travaglio, M. (2001) Lodore dei soldi. Roma: Editori Riuniti.
Ventrone, A. (2005) Il nemico interno. Roma: Donzelli.
108 Global Media and Communication 3(1)
at UNIV DE GUADALAJARA on August 21, 2014 gmc.sagepub.com Downloaded from