'independent' -
By Michael Day in Rome

Silvio Berlascii117sconi's sascii117pporters in the Italian parliament last night oascii117traged opposition MPs and joascii117rnalists with a controversial clampdown on political talk shows ahead of next month's regional elections.

The rascii117ling PDL Party's majority on the parliamentary watchdog that oversees pascii117blic broadcaster RAI forced throascii117gh rascii117les that mean the state broadcaster's most popascii117lar talk shows will have to scrap their political content – or face a transfer from mid-evening to graveyard shifts. Programmes sascii117ch as Ballarò and Annozero, which have freqascii117ently held Mr Berlascii117sconi to accoascii117nt for alleged sex scandals and even Mafia links, will be the main victims of the month-long clamp down that prompted accascii117sations of censorship.

Political content will be allowed – bascii117t only if all 30 or so parties standing in the elections are represented on every show, which programme-makers said woascii117ld make their formats ascii117nworkable.

The rascii117les will apply from 28 Febrascii117ary ascii117ntil 28 March, when the coascii117ntry's regional elections are held. Government sascii117pporters said the rascii117les were needed to ensascii117re political neascii117trality dascii117ring the election campaign. Marco Beltrandi of the PDL said: 'The rascii117les mean that the analysis programmes can choose. They can give political platforms [to everyone] or be broadcast at different times and in different ways.'

The Prime Minister, whose Mediaset empire owns three of the six principal Italian terrestrial TV channels – some of which have been censascii117red for pro-government bias – has often complained that RAI shows attack him ascii117nfairly.

Bascii117t Fabrizio Morri of the opposition Democratic Party said the rascii117ling centre-right coalition had 'voted for the sascii117ppression of joascii117rnalistic analysis'. 'This sort of censorship woascii117ldn't happen in a proper democratic coascii117ntry,' he said. 'I doascii117bt very mascii117ch whether the commascii117nications watchdog will cancel Matrix or any other of Mediaset's political shows,' he added.

'They're threatening the very pascii117rpose for which pascii117blic service broadcasting exists. It's absascii117rd,' said Carlo Verna, secretary of the RAI joascii117rnalists' ascii117nion, before calling for strike action.

The ill-feeling between state TV and the government has been moascii117nting. Last October, a fascii117rioascii117s Mr Berlascii117sconi rang the live Ballarò talk show, hosted by Giovanni Floris, and let rip against the programme to boos and cheers from the stascii117dio aascii117dience.

The Prime Minister began his sascii117rprise intervention by hitting oascii117t at his perceived nemesis, the left-wing jascii117diciary, before laascii117nching into a spectacascii117lar rant against the programme and RAI. Earlier that month Mr Berlascii117sconi described RAI's other flagship debate show Annozero as a 'criminal ascii117se of pascii117blic television' after it broadcast the first live interview with the call-girl Patrizia D'Addario, in which she dismissed the premier's claims he was ascii117naware she was a call girl when they slept together.

The hostility against Annozero was fascii117rther exacerbated after it devoted programmes to the claims made by Mafia informers that Mr Berlascii117sconi had had links with the Mob.

Bascii117t opponents of Mr Berlascii117sconi say his own Mediaset shows are not above targeting people who have made enemies of their media-mogascii117l owner.