Italian newspaper ad sales through September were down 23 percent, while magazine ad sales sank 29 percent, Bloomberg reported today.

Meanwhile, TV ad sales for the same period rose 3 percent over the year prior, according to ANSA news wire.

The data was compiled by Federazione Concessionarie Pubblicità, a national advertising agency association.

The reported slide in revenue comes amid an investigation by Italian authorities that Google's search services suppress the appearance of commercial news publications online, allegations reported by ClickZ in August.

Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi's scandals were reported to have boosted newspaper sales in the country, but only in the short term. Reporting on the scandals have also proved costly for some publications, who have been sued by Berlusconi. La Repubblica, Italy's most read daily, is being sued by the prime minister and is now promoting a petition to support press freedom, the paper's editor-in-chief announced in Prague last month.