Sex scandals seem to have become commonplace in Italian politics. After the allegations made about Silvio Berlusconi's private life, it is now the turn of the Governor of Lazio, Piero Marrazzo. The popular PD politician has recently resigned after being taped with a transexual prostitute in a room where cocaine was also found. The scandal emerged after Marrazzo, who was blackmailed by those who had filmed the tape, had decided to pay a substantial amount of money to obtain a copy of the video and destroy it. The prosecutors had to intervene in order to prevent the proof of the blackmail from being destroyed.

The decision by Marrazzo to step down has two main motivations. Firstly, he had initially denied the authenticity of the video, effectively lying to the public on this issue. Secondly, Marrazzo had not reported the blackmail to the police but had decided to give in and pay. These points were so clear that even La Repubblica, a newspaper traditionally placed on the centre-left side of the political spectrum, demanded Marrazzo's resignation.

The Marrazzo scandal, however, is not just a case of misconduct by a politician. It also underlines some of the problems connected with Berlusconi's dual role as Prime Minister and media tycoon. A number of newspapers and magazines editors had been offered the tape by the blackmailers. Among them there were editors of Berlusconi media, including the editor of the weekly gossip magazine, Chi, Alfonso Signorini, who informed the Berlusconi family of the presence of this video.

Berlusconi then decided to contact Marrazzo, to alert him of the existence of the video. He now claims that this is an act of political generosity. However, others, including Giuseppe D’Avanzo of La Repubblica, disagree and suggest that this an act of political cynicism. D’Avanzo has argued that this benevolence could be used by Berlusconi to politically blackmail the governor in the future.

Whatever one thinks about Berlusconi’s behaviour, this story underlines the conflict of interests which still characterises media and politics in Italy. As  underlined by Massimo Gramellini, a columnist for La Stampa, even if Berlusconi decided not to use the video against Marrazzo, the fact that he was given the opportunity to do it because of his entrepreneurial role underlines “the difference between having a media entrepreneur rather than a fridge producer” as a politician. 

For Gramellini, however, this does not imply that Italians are irrational when they decide to elect Berlusconi in office. "It may be - Gramellini continues - that electors know exactly what the risks associated with empowering a media tycoon are, but that they prefer to elect Berlusconi, such is their dislike of more conventional politicians". One may certainly not agree with this analysis in full. However, it is clear that scandals like Marrazzo's make it harder to explain where Gramellini is wrong.