The loss of credibility of traditional media and democratic institutions points to the important challenges for the democratic system. Social networks have allowed new political and social actors to disseminate their messages, which has raised diversity. However, it has also lowered the standards for the circulation of messages and has increased disinformation and hate speech. Contemporary Politics, Communication, and the Impact on Democracy addresses communication and politics and the impact on democracy. This book offers a valuable contribution regarding the challenges and threats faced by traditional and stable democracies while disinformation, polarization, and populism have a main role in the present hybrid communicative scenario. Covering topics such as digital authoritarianism, emotional and rational frames, and political conflict on social media, this is an essential resource for political scientists, communication specialists, analysts, policymakers, politicians, critical media scholars, graduate students, professors, researchers, and academicians.

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.

Queering Italian Media analyzes and offers queer readings of LGBTQIA+ representation in Italian media. The contributors apply various understandings of "queer" and "media" as they discuss the relationship between the political and social lives of queer populations in Italy and investigate their representations in film, news media, television, social media, and viewer-generated media sites. Queering Italian Media examines queer positionality, challenges notions of Italianness as it relates to and is reflected in media, and queers understandings of viewer engagement and participation in media consumption and production.

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.

A landmark biography of the most famous Italian journalist of the twentieth century, an inspiring and often controversial woman who defied the codes of reportage. Oriana Fallaci is known for her uncompromising vision. To retrace Fallaci’s life is to retrace the course of history from World War II to 9/11. As a child, Fallaci enlisted in the Italian Resistance alongside her father, and her hatred of fascism and authoritarian regimes remained strong throughout her life. Covering the entertainment industry early in her career, she created an original, abrasive interview style, focusing on her subjects’ emotions, contradictions, and facial expressions more than their words. When she grew bored with movie stars and directors, she turned her attention to the international political figures of the time—Khomeini, Gaddafi, Indira Gandhi, Kissinger—always placing herself front and center in the story. Also a war reporter working wherever there was conflict, she would provoke controversies that became news themselves. With unprecedented access to personal records, Cristina De Stefano brings to life this remarkable woman whose groundbreaking work and torrid love affairs are not easily forgotten. Oriana Fallaci allows a new generation to discover her story and witness the passionate, unstinting journalism so urgently needed in these times of upheaval and uncertainty.

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.

This book discusses femicide in Italy, and the cultural conversations that have resulted from feminist discourse on lethal violence against women entering the mainstream, by analyzing journalistic inquiries and literary works produced after 2012. In a global and national context where activism’s goals are mainly discursive this study deepens our understanding of the role played by written narratives in the critique of a public interest matter such as gender-based violence. The first part of the book is dedicated to the analysis of three journalistic inquiries published in book format that focus on one or more cases of femicide that happened on the Italian peninsula. The second section draws on the concept of feminist rewriting to propose the analysis of a heterogeneous body of literary texts that explore some of the most controversial and notorious femicide cases covered by previous journalistic, historical, or mythical narratives, before demonstrating the close connection between theoretical and narrative discourse within the analyzed texts. This is a fascinating case study contributing to global understandings of gender-based violence, which will be important for researchers in gender studies, sociology, and media studies.