ftm, being the serious media journal that we are, will leave such considerations to the glossies that handle those things best, but there is an interesting media story behind these new pictures, spread over 12 pages, that is well worth exploring.

Berlusconi is said to be “irritated” by the photos and he has his lawyer in on the act. “Oggi chose to publish only images in which the host is shown in the company of female guests, avoiding highlighting the presence of other guests,” lawyer Niccolo Ghedini complained. A lawsuit is threatened -- under Europe’s Princess Caroline landmark privacy law decision is not a former prime minister granted privacy in the comfort of his own home when he is not on official duty?

And the incident does beg the fair question of where in the pictures are the approximately 200 people who work at Berlusconi’s villa (especially when he is there) -- where are all the bodyguards, other guests, etc. Could it be some very expeditious photo cropping?

“If the bodyguards, police or gardeners kept themselves at a distance, there’s not much I can do,” declared Oggi chief editor Pino Belleri.

But those who follow the Italian political scene know well that coverage like this doesn’t just happen – politics is involved in everything. Consider that Oggi, a so-called family magazine with 700,000 circulation, is owned by RCS Media which also owns Corriere della Sera, Italy’s best selling and most widely read newspaper. The group have never been that friendly with media rival Berlusconi, nor his right-of-center politics.

So it was no accident that Corriere della Sera on the day before Oggi’s publication, ran a big spread on the upcoming magazine scoop. The country was primed.

On the other hand last month a huge hue and cry went up when Oggi did not publish pictures it had showing Silvio Sircana, spokesman for Prime Minister Romano Prodi’s center-left government, talking to a transsexual prostitute from inside his car. The pictures eventually ran in other newspapers. Sircana called the incident “a moment of stupid curiosity”.

Berlusconi lost his premiership last April to Romano Prodi. Not only are their politics opposite, but so are their lifestyles. Prodi lives modestly – no sea cliff palace -- and according to his tax returns earned just €89,514 ($120,000) last year. Berlusconi’s tax return showed he earned 313 times more than Prodi.

This is cache, read story here