Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini has defended his decision to appear on a live chat show and reveal the name of an Italian hostage killed by Iraqi kidnappers before the man's family had been informed.
Fabrizio Quattrocchi, one of four Italian security guards abducted outside Baghdad earlier this week, was shot dead after Italy refused to bow to the kidnappers' demands that it withdraw its some 3,000 troops from Iraq.
The news that one of the hostages had been murdered was reported by Arabic TV just before the start of the Italian chat show, on which Mr Frattini was flanked by distraught relatives of the other three hostages who didn't know who the victim was.
The dead man's name was withheld until Mr Frattini identified the victim hours later live on Porta a Porta(Door to Door).
"I had to assume the serious responsibility of telling the public what was happening and I think it would have been more reprehensible if the foreign minister had quickly withdrawn to his comfortable office," Mr Frattini told the la Repubblicadaily.
In a separate interview with La Stampanewspaper on Friday, Mr Frattini said he only confirmed Quattrocchi's name after it was leaked by a journalist calling in to the show. "As soon as the news was given I had to confirm it. The family was advised about 25 minutes later."
Critics accuse Frattini of turning the tragedy into a TV reality show. Mr Quattrocchi's family was aghast. "It was horrible that Fabrizio was gone and we received the news from Porta a Porta," his sister Graziella told reporters.
The show on RAI state television is known as Italy's "third house of parliament" because of the high-profile guests it attracts.
Some critics have said it was inappropriate for Frattini to appear on it at all instead of working behind the scenes to resolve the crisis.
"Can anyone imagine the British, French or German foreign ministers spending their time during a serious emergency seated on the sofa of a chat show as Frattini did?" left-leaning la Repubblicaasked in an editorial Friday.
Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, who was on the Mediterranean island of Sardinia as the news emerged, also came in for criticism.