No joking matter

Oct 8th 2010, 16:32 by The Economist | ROME

PROSECUTORS are looking into whether the outspoken head of Italy’s employers’ federation was—or is—the target of an attempt by journalists close to the prime minister, Silvio Berlusconi, to threaten her with compromising information.

Il Giornale, a newspaper owned by Mr Berlusconi’s brother which takes a consistently pro-government line, announced today that it was about to publish a “four-page dossier” on Emma Marcegaglia (pictured), the president of Confindustria, Italy's employers' association. Ms Marcegaglia has been a fierce critic of the government's failure to put forward a policy for reviving economic growth after the recession.

The paper made its move despite an inquiry, led by two Naples prosecutors, in which its editor, Alessandro Sallusti, and deputy editor, Nicola Porro, are formal suspects. According to leaks from the inquiry published in the Italian media, it centres on a text message sent by Mr Porro to a press officer at Confindustria on September 16th.

The message allegedly said "tomorrow there will be a big judicial piece on the business dealings of the Marcegaglia family". Soon afterwards, the two men spoke on the telephone, unaware their conversation was being recorded.

Mr Porro is claimed to have said: "Now we're going to have some real fun and for the next 20 days [give] Marcegaglia a hard time like she's never seen before".
He has since said he was “just joking”, and that, “We're on very familiar terms and we kid around. I never made any threats.”

The article was not published. But, questioned on October 5th, Ms Marcegaglia said that she felt her name and reputation had been put in jeopardy by Mr Porro’s remarks.

Ms Marcegaglia’s criticism of the Berlusconi government became increasingly strident in the summer as the prime minister ignored calls to appoint a new industry minister. Claudio Scajola, the previous incumbent, stepped down in May. Mr Berlusconi himself held the portfolio until earlier this month, when he named Paolo Romani to the job.

On October 7th, police searched the Milan headquarters of Il Giornale. They were also reported to have searched the homes of the two journalists under investigation. Mr Sallusti took over the day-to-day editing of the paper following criticism of its investigation into an allegedly shady property deal in Monte Carlo, which appeared to cast doubt on the probity of another prominent critic of the prime minister, his former ally, Gianfranco Fini.

http://www.economist.com/blogs/newsbook/2010/10/il_giornale_trouble