Prime minister Silvio Belusconi’s party has pushed through rules which will drastically circumscribe political content during the run-up to Italy’s regional elections. State broadcasters must now either accommodate over 30 political parties on their talk shows or be transferred away from their prime-time slots. Belusconi has previously attacked state television, claiming the programme Annozero was a ‘criminal use of public television’ when it interviewed the call-girl Belusconi had allegedly slept with. The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) criticised Italy’s new rules as the latest ‘nail in the coffin of media freedom‘.