Premier Silvio Berlusconi's stormy abandonment of the state television studios where he was being interviewed produced wildly contrasting reactions in the Italian political arena.
The centre-left opposition claimed on Monday that the media-tycoon-turned-politician was simply unable to cope with a "real" interview in which an interviewer demanded that questions be answered rather than accepting Berlusconi's usually long and unchallenged speeches in response to comfortable questions.
Berlusconi's supporters, on the other hand, accused the RAI 3 channel and interviewer Lucia Annunziata of using the occasion to attack him from a patently left-wing position. They forwarded complaints to the nation's Communications Authority, which tabled a meeting for Wednesday to decide whether the handling of the interview breached pre-election rules governing politics on television.
Italy's 'par condicio' regulations, as well as demanding equal air time for all parties, also require "correct and impartial" behaviour by programme presenters.
The crucial incident, seen on national TV on Sunday afternoon, came 20 minutes into the 'In Half an Hour' show on the third state channel. The programme was recorded in the morning and, despite the premier's early exit, RAI decided to air it anyway.
Annunziata followed a critical line of questions, challenging Berlusconi on his apparent conflict of interests as the owner of TV channels. At one point Berlusconi interrupted this line of questioning and insisted that he be asked questions about his centre-right coalition's electoral programme. Annunziata did accommodate but Berlusconi then did not like the fact that he was interrupted by Annunziata who wanted to quote economic data and ask him questions based on that.
Berlusconi then challenged Annunziata by saying that he was going to get up and leave unless he was left to speak uninterrupted, and this would remain as "a stain" on her career.
A series of sharp remarks passed between the guest and the host before, finally, the premier got up and left, saying: "You are biased against me, that's why I'm going. You should be a little ashamed."
Commenting on Monday, RAI Chairman Gianni Petruccioli said it had been an "ugly incident" and added that he had seen aggressiveness on both sides.
"He started off provocatively and attacked RAI 3 in an unacceptable way. The journalist responded in the same way, and she shouldn't have," he said. The veteran journalist has never hidden her leftwing slant and resigned as head of RAI in 2004, saying government forces were trying to take control of the state broadcaster.
Predictably, political reactions to the fracas were mostly divided along party lines.
"The premier is used to long monologues without anyone raising objections and when this happens he loses his cool," said Democratic Left leader Piero Fassino.
Opposition leader Romano Prodi avoided a direct attack on his rival for the premiership, restricting himself to a quip about the head-to-head debate that he and Berlusconi are scheduled to have on Tuesday.
It will be the first time the two rivals have been on TV together since 1996, when Prodi won the subsequent election. The two leaders huddled with their closest aides on Monday, preparing for an encounter whose ground rules - for example, the time allowed for questions and answers - were the object of tense negotiation.
"I hope he doesn't run away on Tuesday too," Prodi said.
Berlusconi's supporters, especially those in his Forza Italia party, spoke angrily about Sunday's "media ambush" on the premier and defined Annunziata as a "militant leftist". They demanded that RAI immediately review its application of rules on the fair and impartial treatment of all politicians on public television, especially in the run-up to elections.
RAI's board was scheduled to discuss the Berlusconi incident on Wednesday.
Several ministers and political allies came out in Berlusconi's defence. Foreign Minister Gianfranco Fini, head of the right-wing National Alliance, said that an interviewer should not be the interviewee's "political adversary". But the UDC's Pier Ferdinando Casini, a leading centrist who is also theoretically running for premier in April 9 elections, appeared to be a little less supportive.
"We've known about Annunziata's bias for years. Now isn't the time to thrown in the towel. Now is the time to fight," he said.
The Vatican's official newspaper, the Osservatore Romano, said the interview had been transformed into a "spectacle of bad taste".
Among other things, Berlusconi's appearance on the In Half an Hour show more than doubled its viewing figures.
