Global Media and Communication 2007 Mancini 101 8

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DOI: 10.1177/1742766507074361

2007 3: 101Global Media and CommunicationPaolo Mancini

A publishing success: The literature on Berlusconi

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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 bookI 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 thereasons 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

REVIEW ARTICLE

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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 assuch recent works asInchiesta 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); andBerlusconi. 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)



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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 hispersonal 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 1 0 3



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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 Berlusconiwith 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




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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 FlorentineLaboratorio 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, aboveall, 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.




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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 tofurther 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.




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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 polarizationof 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:




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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.


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