Dismay as anti-semitism clouds Italian TV chief's departure

The man chosen to revive Italy's state broadcaster threw in the towel six days after his appointment, without stepping inside his office.

In his resignation letter, Paolo Mieli, the chairman-elect, cited "technical and political difficulties". The government benches in parliament erupted in applause at the news of his departure, but elsewhere there was widespread dismay.

Rai has been in trouble for years, victim of the spoils system that gives important appointments to the parties in power. But the malaise has become a galloping cancer since Silvio Berlusconi's election victory nearly two years ago.

Mediaset, Mr Berlusconi's commercial network, dominates private-sector television. With Rai in his pocket, Italy's richest man had direct or indirect control of nearly 90 per cent of Italian broadcasting.

Mr Berlusconi has a strong commercial motive for running Rai down, so that Mediaset reaps the benefit in viewing figures and advertising business.

Whether or not that was Mr Berlusconi's intention, Rai's audiences have slumped as its programme quality has crumbled, and the previous board quit after a year in the face of claims that it acted against the corporation's interests.

Mr Mieli, a distinguished journalist who has edited two of Italy's best daily newspapers, was seen as a man with the experience and energy to revitalise Rai. From the centre-left, he was also distant enough from Mr Berlusconi to be immune from charges of complicity.

But he laid down three conditions for taking the job. First, he demanded the restoration of two successful programmes that were axed when their anchormen offended the Prime Minister. He insisted on choosing his own director general to replace the incumbent, who is considered to be close to Mr Berlusconi. Third, he asked for a salary comparable to what he receives as director of the publishing group Rizzoli.

The government balked; Mr Berlusconi commented that "it would be as if we hadn't won the election" to accept the demands. Anti-Semitic abuse was sprayed on Rai's office in Milan – Mr Mieli is half-Jewish – and a right-wing newspaper in Rome inveighed against "Jewish domination" of Italy's media.

In discussing his decision to reject the post, Mr Mieli was philosophical. "There is a civil war going on in this country," he told La Repubblica newspaper. "Fortunately it's only mental but it is a war just the same." He was appointed chairman, he said, because even the governing majority "understands that there is a conflict of interest" in the control of Rai that had to be resolved before the corporation could return to health.

Mr Mieli said he had hoped "to take [Rai] out of the civil war ... and return public television to commercial competitiveness." That challenge will be for the person who takes his place.