Last Tuesday, Silvio Berlusconi, who was at home ill with scarlet fever, made a phone call during the RAI talk-show Ballaro'. He did so to complain about a number of false statements which he thought the politicians from the centre-left present in the program had made. The sudden phone call in a TV program is something Berlusconi had already made in the past. In this latest case, this phone call raised eyebrows as it occurred even if the PM's party was represented in the talk show by two Ministers.

Aldo Grasso, the main TV commentator of the Italian daily, Corriere della Sera, has picked on this particular phone call. He has outlined how he thought this was an extraordinary rhetorical device. He even decided to baptise this technique the telefonista (phone-caller) technique. To Grasso, the extraordinarity of this method lies in the fact that the voice of the person who rings in seems to come from Heaven. Additionally, the other guests present in the program are so surprised by the phone call that they are not able to make strong objections to the points made by the telefonista. Lastly, as the phone call inevitably leads to a rise in the TV share, no TV presenter will ever impede it.

The telefonista technique is something almost unique to Italy and it surprises a number of foreign journalists who look at Italian talk shows. Differently from what Grasso says, it is not unique to Berlusconi (Casini, a centrist leader, famously phoned in during a Berlusconi interview by the TV journalist Bruno Vespa), but it seems fair to say that il Cavaliere uses it more than others.

I believe that the attitude towards the telefonista represents two characteristics of Italian political journalism. Firstly, it shows how journalists tend to be concerned more about collecting statements by a certain politician than to properly interview him. When the telefonista rings, even though the presenter may try to ask him questions, this usually proves an elusive task because of the nature of the interview. Secondly, it underlines a vicious circle Italian journalism is locked in. Even when a talk show does not want to favour Berlusconi (Ballaro' is certainly not a right-wing leaning program), it lets Berlusconi choose his favourite way of communicating with the public. This is because a phone call by the Prime Minister guarantees good results in terms of TV share. And a good TV share is often worth a phone call.