Legality of Berlusconi's Television Monopoly Challenged http://tvnewslies.org/tvnl/index.php/news/journalism-a-media/13350-legality-of-berlusconis-television-monopoly-challenged.html

Europe's Top Court Urged to Address Italy's Media Pluralism Gap Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi's control over television broadcasting in Italy goes against European democratic standards, the Open Society Justice Initiative argued in a brief filed today with the European Court of Human Rights. The Italian broadcaster bringing suit, Centro Europa 7 s.r.l., has been denied access to the airwaves for almost a decade.

"This case highlights the failure of successive Italian governments to deal with the twin problems of concentrated control and conflict of interest in broadcasting," said James A. Goldston, executive director of the Open Society Justice Initiative. "The Italian situation is unacceptable for a democracy, and we are calling on the European Court to uphold the principles of media pluralism."