Is Tony Soprano Bad For Italy's Reputation?

Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi is launching a 10-part plan to "uproot the mafia once and for all" in his country -- and he's calling on the film and TV industries to stop being so obsessed with the mafia because shows like "The Sopranos" are damaging Italy's global reputation. The plan and the claim are both -- surprise! -- rife with hypocrisy.

The laughably obvious problem with Berlusconi's anti-mafia crusade is that he himself bears a history of alleged ties to organized crime rings. He's rumored to have made financial deals with mob members and supported a bill that would limit some of the wiretapping that's been essential to anti-mafia investigations. The PM is also extolling his own ability to attack the mafia's monetary assets, in spite of a 12-percent increase in Italian mob profits last year.

The most absurd link in the chain, though, is Berlusconi's proprietorship of the largest private broadcasting company in Italy -- Mediaset -- which receives an allegedly huge amount of financial backing from the mafia. And it's Mediaset who successfully aired "The Sopranos" and a 2007 mafia miniseries called "The Boss of Bosses," the types of shows that are under direct fire from Berlusconi's new tirade.

It's fortunate that UV overexposure and gratuitous bar fighting don't hold political significance, or Berlusconi might try and go after MTV's exploration of Italian-Americans in "Jersey Shore."