In a country where bella figura is a national pastime Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi is the maestro of media manipulation Having risen to political primacy with the aid of his Mediaset empire he now controls 90 of the bel paeses television channels including the staterun RAI network Quantity it seems does not equal quality Fed on a diet of seminaked dancing girls inane competitions and rickety reality shows built around the most ridiculous of premises is it any wonder that Italians are becoming a nation of famehungry wannabes