La Repubblica deserves support.

The press remains one of the few forces of critical appraisal in a society where almost all the television channels are answerable to Mr Berlusconi. So far, his only nod towards accountability has been to go on a ­talkshow whose hand-wringingly obsequious presenter let him deliver a self-­justificatory monologue [nota del sottoscritto: Porta a Porta]. But when a reporter from La Repubblica tackled him this week, Mr Berlusconi lost his rag. "What right have you to ask?" he stormed. The answer in a democratic society must be: "All the right in the world." La Repubblica is ploughing a lonely furrow and deserves support.