The 2004 Gasparri Law on Broadcasting was heavily criticized for provisions that enabled Prime Minister S.B. to maintain his control of the private media market, largely through his ownership of the Mediaset Group. In October 2009, the Constitutional Court overturned a law that had granted Berlusconi protection from prosecution while he remains in office. The ruling opened the way for a number of court cases against him to proceed, including a tax fraud case involving Mediaset. In June 2008, the lower house of Parliament approved a bill that would impose heavy fines or jail terms on journalists who use transcripts from wiretaps without a judge’s permission. It had yet to pass the Senate at the end of 2009. The International Press Institute noted that the bill could “limit journalists’ ability to provide the public with vital information.”B.’s draft law is contrary to international conventions and to the case-law of the European Court of Human Rights.”Tensions between the press and prime minister escalated in 2009, as B. repeatedly tried to interfere in journalists’ efforts to cover conflicts between his private and political lives. B.’s private life came under intense scrutiny during the year after his wife filed for divorce and accused him of consorting with minors. With the 2006 election of Romano Prodi as prime minister, overt government interference in media content began to diminish. However, B-’s return to power in April 2008 gave him indirect control over up to 90 percent of the country’s broadcast media through the state-owned outlets and his own private media holdings.
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