A Berlusconi family newspaper has advised Italians to stop paying their television licence fee to punish Italy's public television service for broadcasting an interview with an escort who allegedly spent the night with the prime minister.
Patrizia D'Addario's first appearance on Italian television, broadcast last Thursday by the current events show Annozero, drew 5.6 million viewers, but triggered the ire of the economic development minister, Claudio Scajola, who threatened sanctions against the RAI network for broadcasting "trash, shame, infamy and dirt".
On Sunday Il Giornale, a newspaper owned by Berlusconi's brother, Paolo, launched a front-page campaign against the licence fee, as did Libero, a pro-Berlusconi newspaper.
The newspaper printed a sample letter to send to the tax office to request removal from the register of licence payers. The consequence, the paper stated, could be a visit from tax inspectors to see if a television was on.
"Reading between the lines, it appears Il Giornale does not think anyone will actually show up to check," said Gianluca Di Ascenzo, vice-president of the consumer group Codacons. Licence fee evasion already runs at 30% in Italy.
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