The Italian media - the press, cinema, radio and television - is one of the largest and most controversial media industries in mainland Europe. In this introductory text Matthew Hibberd explores the key historical processes and events in the growth and development of Italy's main media and considers it in the context of the economic, political, socio-cultural and technological movements that have affected Italy. Featuring a timeline of key Italian events, the book begins with the Unification - or Risorgimento - of Italy in 1861, and charts the rise of Italy from a fragmented and rural-based society through to a leading industrialised and urbanised world power. It details Fascism's reliance on the exploitation of the mass media, analyses Italy's remarkable post-war recovery, the development of democratic institutions and the contribution that a pluralistic media has made to this. Finally, it examines Silvio Berlusconi's rise to high political office and questions whether the involvement of Italy's leading media mogul in politics has harmed Italy's international reputation. The Media in Italy addresses key themes that show how the Italian state and Italian media operate, such as: How governing parties and individuals have been able to assert influence over media intuitions Why there is a close relationship between political elites and media professionals The lack of consensus over key media reforms The importance of the Catholic Church in the development of the Italian media How a unique Italian media system has been shaped by issues of citizenship, democracy and nation-state The Media in Italy is key reading for students on media, journalism, politics, and modern language courses.

The Italian media - the press, cinema, radio and television - is one of the largest and most controversial media industries in mainland Europe. In this introductory text Matthew Hibberd explores the key historical processes and events in the growth and development of Italy's main media and considers it in the context of the economic, political, socio-cultural and technological movements that have affected Italy. Featuring a timeline of key Italian events, the book begins with the Unification - or Risorgimento - of Italy in 1861, and charts the rise of Italy from a fragmented and rural-based society through to a leading industrialised and urbanised world power. It details Fascism's reliance on the exploitation of the mass media, analyses Italy's remarkable post-war recovery, the development of democratic institutions and the contribution that a pluralistic media has made to this. Finally, it examines Silvio Berlusconi's rise to high political office and questions whether the involvement of Italy's leading media mogul in politics has harmed Italy's international reputation. The Media in Italy addresses key themes that show how the Italian state and Italian media operate, such as: How governing parties and individuals have been able to assert influence over media intuitions Why there is a close relationship between political elites and media professionals The lack of consensus over key media reforms The importance of the Catholic Church in the development of the Italian media How a unique Italian media system has been shaped by issues of citizenship, democracy and nation-state The Media in Italy is key reading for students on media, journalism, politics, and modern language courses.

Why is social media in southeast Italy so predictable when it is used by such a range of different people? This book describes the impact of social media on the population of a town in the southern region of Puglia, Italy. Razvan Nicolescu spent 15 months living among the town’s residents, exploring what it means to be an individual on social media. Why do people from this region conform on platforms that are designed for personal expression? Nicolescu argues that social media use in this region of the world is related to how people want to portray themselves. He pays special attention to the ability of users to craft their appearance in relation to collective ideals, values and social positions, and how this feature of social media has, for the residents of the town, become a moral obligation: they are expected to be willing to adapt their appearance to suit their different audiences at the same time, which is crucial in a town where religion and family are at the heart of daily life.

Annotation. Matthew Hibberd explores why politics and government are so closely linked, and addresses the question of whether it's just national pride that has allowed the media to remain relatively independent of global groups.

The Mapping Digital Media project examines the global opportunities and risks created by the transition from traditional to digital media. Covering 60 countries, the project examines how these changes affect the core democratic service that any media system should provide: news about political, economic, and social affairs. Digital terrestrial television was introduced in Italy in 2001. The switch-off of analog broadcasting started in 2009 and is based on the progressive digitization of regional areas. The deadline for the definitive switch-over from analog to digital broadcasting is set for December 31, 2012. The television set remains the most common media device in Italian households. National television news and traditional newspapers are the media sources most used by Italians to obtain news about politics and daily events. However, the percentage of Italians whose sole source of information was television decreased from 46.6 to 26.4 percent between 2006 and 2009. Newspaper sales have been in long-term decline, fuelling concerns over whether professional journalism is financially sustainable in the long term. Digitization appears to be weakening local broadcasters, who have played an important role historically in safeguarding freedom of information. The multiplication of the national channels, especially RAI and Mediaset, has caused an important decrease in terms of audience and advertising income of local and regional broadcasters. This report calls on civil society, NGOs, and international organizations to urge the reform of legislation on conflicts of interest between political/institutional roles on one hand and media ownership on the other, as well as to monitor the last stage of digital switch-over, the final allocation of the digital spectrum, and the resulting state of media pluralism, in order to verify that parliament and government actions do not privilege the existing RAI Mediaset duopoly or favor companies close to the prime minister.

Media and Politics in Contemporary Italy is the first book to provide a comprehensive examination of the media system in Italy during the last twenty years. Seeing the rise of new political actors and the growing role of the Internet and social media, the general elections of February 2013 have symbolically closed a twenty-year period of Italian history dominated by Silvio Berlusconi politically and by television as channel of political communication. The analysis focuses on change and continuity with past media structures, cultures and practices, and considers the “Berlusconi factor,” namely the impact of one man on the country’s media system, journalism, and political communication.

This is a critical anthology of extracts from Italian newspapers and an introduction to the workings of the Italian press. It should help the reader to identify, describe and analyze a range of texts that form the daily paper. The anthology includes cartoons as well as in-depth reports, crime stories and coverage of major political events from the death of Stalin to the scandals that brought down the First Republic.