It is troubling enough that Italy’s rhetorically offensive Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi comes from a family that controls “half the television output, one of four national newspapers, one of two news magazines and the biggest publishing house.”

Such control over media by the chief executive clearly poses problems for the robustness of critical coverage of that very executive. Sadly, Berlusconi has taken no measures to assuage those fears. Instead of recognizing the power he holds in the media and in the presidency, and keeping an arms length from press; Berlusconi has behaved worse toward the press than one may expect.

If the Italian premier just mandated favorable coverage in his family media [which he does] and exercising influence over state media [ditto], that would bad enough. But the prime minister fond of racism has decided to go after the foreign press in Italy as well through measures of intimidation and even, for a moment, the possibility of an economic boycott.

Of course, there is Italian media independent of the Berlusconi family, but it is the foreign press, widely available in Italy, that is most critical of Berlusconi. The Italian premier seems to believe that he is entitled to govern without scrutiny and has gone after the foreign press.

The Economist reports:

Last month his foreign minister called a critical leading article in the Financial Times, a British business newspaper (and part-owner of The Economist), bad and dishonest journalism. Early this month Mr Berlusconi himself accused the foreign press of being at the service of the centre-left opposition. He has attacked newspapers owned by Rupert Murdoch, especially the Times, for their recent highly critical coverage. Il Giornale, a newspaper owned by Mr Berlusconi’s brother, has described the work of the foreign press as poison and lies, pointing especially at publications based in Britain, France, Germany and Spain.

Some Italian ambassadors have been putting pressure on media hostile to Mr Berlusconi. The Italian ambassador in Madrid wrote to the newspaper El País to complain of a “systematic campaign of demolition of Italy’s image”. A foreign journalist in Rome was recently summoned to the foreign ministry. Mr Berlusconi’s staff have tried to get one foreign ambassador to bring journalists from his country into line. Yet Mr Berlusconi and his supporters refuse to engage directly with critics. Foreign correspondents complain that it is often impossible to secure interviews with any ministers in the government.

Some journalists believe their telephones are tapped. And the threat of legal action is constant. Mr Berlusconi’s lawyer is bringing an action against El País because it published the Sardinian photographs. Until Mr Berlusconi came along, Italian prime ministers tended not to sue newspapers. Mr Berlusconi sues plenty (including The Economist).

Such is the authoritarian nature of Berlusconi that he actually summons journalists to the Foreign Ministry as if Italy was the Soviet Union. Has has done more than just use the tools of the state to intimidate, but he even asked Italian businessmen to without advertising in the critical domestic media. Berlusconi has since withdrawn such a request that is reminiscent of Mussolini.

The Italian premier is slowly strengthening his power in Italy. Besides seeking constitutional reform to increase the power of the presidency, he recently suggested that the national holiday of April 25th when Italians celebrate the liberation of Italy from the Nazis by Allied Forces be renamed freedom day instead of liberation day. This is unsubtle propaganda. Berlusconi’s party is the People of Freedom. Such is the mark of tyrant.