This Europe: TV crisis as Berlusconi takes on the chatteratti

Control of Italy's state-owned broadcaster, Rai, carefully shared between different shades of political opinion, appeared to have been hijacked yesterday after the chairman of the board, Antonio Baldassarre, hurriedly appointed a new batch of executives, defying a request to bide his time.

The leader of the Democratic Left, Piero Fassino, said the chairman's initiative was "shameful and morally scandalous".

Vacancies on the board opened up on Wednesday when two directors resigned, complaining that the influence of Silvio Berlusconi's government was so great that freedom of expression was at risk.

The crisis at Rai has been brewing since Mr Berlusconi's coalition came to power 18 months ago. The billionaire politician's critics were quick to point out that, as owner of the dominant commercial network, Mediaset, and the man with ultimate power over Rai, Mr Berlusconi now had direct or indirect control of 90 per cent of Italy's television output.

The president of Rai, Roberto Zaccaria, announced that he was quitting a year early, after Mr Berlusconi called him "a left-wing militant". Other left-leaning board members quit, journalists learned self-censorship to survive and top jobs were shared among coalition loyalists including members of Mr Berlusconi's party Forza Italia, the anti-immigrant Lega Nord of Umberto Bossi, and Gianfranco Fini's "post-fascists".

New board members are appointed by the presidents of the two chambers of parliament, one traditionally a government figure, the other from the opposition. Mr Berlusconi subverted the process by insisting that both presidents came from his own ranks.

Morale within the corporation is now said to be rock bottom. "The general situation is a disaster," said one independent producer who has worked with Rai for years. One Machiavellian theory is that Mr Berlusconi is deliberately sapping the corporation's vitality, driving advertisers into the arms of his own company, Mediaset.

Mr Berlusconi showed no remorse yesterday. He said the debate over Rai was "a festival of fabrications".