So, it’s election time here in Italy, and as usual, all politicians are concentrating on how to make Italy’s stagnant economy perform better.

Oh, sorry, no, they’re talking about how much time they get on television.

Silvio Berlusconi has now been formally placed under investigation for pressuring officials within Agcom (the sectoral regulator) and Rai. Mauro Masi, the director-general of Rai, explaining himself to Berlusconi, claimed to have “gotten rid off” Paolo Ruffini (former director of RaiTre).

At the same time, Agcom has fined both TG1 and TG5 for being unbalanced during an electoral period (where, in theory, each competing list has a right to equal time on news broadcasts). In both cases, the bias ran heavily in favour of the PdL, and against the PD. Tg4, which has even heavier imbalances, has already been fined.

You can see Agcom’s data on their website.

You might think that screen-time is a lousy measure of bias, and you might be right. But if you want a comparison, check out what SkyTG24 is doing. Unbelievably, they’re the white knight in the Italian television scene. Their split between the PdL:PD:Others (on the most inclusive measure) is 44:23:33, compared to
If you want a reference point, compare the tempo di 60:20:20 for TG1.