Secret, power and information about policy makers' health
Jacques Chirac has been hospitalized in secret and only 12 hours later his government was informed. French people knew very late about the accident. Managing the information about the French president's health was more similar to the one used in the Ussr than what would happen in the United States.
In Italy we know everything about Silvio Berlusconi's lifting and hear implanting. But most information about this come out in the summer, when newspapers would write less about the television mogul who became prime minister. While his cancer, which he suffered during his first years as political person, was "confessed" much after the facts. Public relations are at work even in this kind of matters.
I think that policy makers have a smaller right to privacy than other people. Their role is more important. The public interest means that people must know about politicians' health. It's the price to pay for power in a republic. And the media are to inform about politicians' health in a complete and transparent way. With style and respect. France is not a good example. Italy is a laboratory. Maybe in this case we have to look at the States and even more at Great Britain for learning something.
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