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Article 1 – Spike in intimidation against journalists in Italy during pandemic

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Article 1 – Spike in intimidation against journalists in Italy during pandemic

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Protests ensued in Italy after the announcement of a new curfew at the end of October 2021. The curfew was implemented in an attempt to curb the spread of the Omicron variant of COVID-19, which led to a worldwide spike in cases towards the end of 2021 and into the new year. Some protesters, who were mostly workers in the hospitality industry, became especially aggressive towards Italian journalists reporting on the scene. One reporter for Rai said she and her crew were forced to leave a protest after the crowd threatened to destroy their equipment.

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Newsroom
On the evening of 24 October, Italian journalist Raffaella Cosentino was sent to Palermo to cover a protest against the government's COVID-19 measures organized by bar and restaurant owners. After the announcement of a new curfew in Italy at the end of October, many in the hospitality industry reacted with anger and took to the streets.
Cosentino, a journalist working for the Italian public broadcaster Rai, joined the gathering along with a cameraman to report on the event. As the demonstrators marched towards the seat of the president of the region of Sicily, the group of protestors mixed with "neo-fascist" groups who tried to stir up the protests.

From that point on the tone of the demonstration changed. As Cosentino and her colleague tried to continue interviewing protesters and taking footage, a leader of the far-right groups declared over a megaphone that the media were "terrorists" working for the government. Cosentino and her colleague were later confronted by a group of men who insulted them and accused them of being traitors as they work for Rai.

"It suddenly became a threatening atmosphere", Cosentino told IPI. Though some police officers had been standing nearby, they did nothing to protect them, she said. After the men threatened to destroy the crew's camera, Cosentino and her colleague left, fearing for their safety.

Days later, a different team from Rai was the target of intimidation at another similar protest in Palermo. According to Cosentino, these kinds of cases are interconnected and are occurring in a charged political climate in which journalists are increasingly labelled as enemies.

"It is clear that if you have politicians who empower this menace of journalists in public, it can't be a good message", she said. "This enhances the attitude to not consider journalists as the watchdog of democracy but as someone that can be targeted".

The ongoing pandemic, adding both financial and personal issues, increases these tensions, creating a more precarious situation for journalists. "When the tension is high, you are more on the frontline and face a greater risk", Cosentino said.
Threats and attacks on journalists on the rise
These cases of violence against journalists in Italy are far from isolated incidents. During the pandemic, journalists have been attacked and harassed during anti-lockdown and anti-mask protests in cities including Naples, Florence and Rome. Over a period of three weeks in October and November, the Media Freedom Rapid Response (MFRR) documented at least nine incidents involving 14 members of the Italian media in six different cities, including one photojournalist being hospitalised with a head trauma.

This trend was confirmed by a recent report by the "Coordination Centre on the Phenomenon of Intimidating Acts Against Journalists" - a body set up in 2017 which conducts monitoring, analysis and prevention work to improve the journalists' safety. Chaired by the minister of the interior, it is composed of the head of cabinet, the chief of police, the president and secretary general of the Italian Press Federation (FNSI) and the president and secretary general of the Order of Journalists.

In 2020, the Coordination Centre's report found that police forces recorded 163 verified incidents of intimidation against journalists, an increase of 87 percent compared to the previous year. These ranged from physical aggression and verbal threats to threatening letters or online harassment.

While organized crime was still responsible for a significant number of threats (around 17 per cent in 2020), during the last year of COVID-19 and lengthy lockdowns, political issues became the main motivation for acts of violence against journalists. Nearly half (44 percent) of the incidents of intimidation occurred through online platforms, with the lockdown accentuating and exacerbating this trend, the report said, with 19 percent of all threats made against women journalists and 76 percent against men.

As in previous years, in 2020 southwestern cities and regions of Lazio, Sicily, Campania, Calabria and Lombardy recorded the highest number of incidents. However, unlike in other EU countries, in Italy not a single incident of intimidation against journalists by members of the police was reported over the last year, according to the report, with all cases coming from members of the public.

This increase in Italy mirrors a trend observed during the pandemic elsewhere in Europe: that a mix of polarisation, right-right politics, low trust in mainstream news sources and conspiracy theories about the role of the media have contributed to growing anti-press sentiment, leading to threats against journalists both online and on the streets.

In Italy, a country which has long suffered from attacks and threats against media workers, this high-level monitoring mechanism was well placed to closely measure the impact of COVID-19 on journalists' safety. Under the new minister of the interior, Luciana Lamorgese, the body has seen a revival and has proven to be more efficient in collecting and responding to threats than under previous administration, providing a model for other EU governments.
Safety of journalists back on the agenda
Raffaele Lorusso, general secretary of the Federazione Nazionale Stampa Italiana (FNSI), an Italian journalist union which is part of the Coordination Centre, told IPI that since coming into office the new Italian government had shown greater attention to the safety of journalists. Lorusso praised the recent work of the Coordination Centre, saying it "allows for a clear and updated picture of the situation of threats against journalists, to intervene promptly on the most worrying cases, to solicit the police on the issue of the defence of journalists".

In addition, he said, the Parliamentary Anti-Mafia Commission has set up a special committee dedicated to the protection of journalists under threat. "Intimidations against journalists are a terrible and increasing phenomenon", he said. "At the moment, 22 Italian journalists are receiving police protection because of threats received by the mafia and extreme right groups."

In recent months, FNSI has also registered several cases in which journalists were attacked after asking questions about compliance with anti-COVID measures. Often, the answers were "broken cameras, insults and threats", Lorusso said. According to Lorusso, a special law to combat intimidation against journalists would be an important tool for protecting journalists. "We know the most important thing is to continue to fight along with colleagues", he said, "And we know that in Italy we have a long way to go".
Lawsuits and SLAPPs
Despite this worrying increase in verbal or physical attacks, they make up only one of many pressures on press freedom in Italy, such as the lack of financial security, a low level of media pluralism or Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation ( SLAPP) aimed at intimidating journalists and financially pressuring newsrooms.

"During my career I have been served with 300 lawsuits so far", Italian journalist and television host Milena Gabanelli told IPI. These were filed for intimidation purposes and to discourage her from publishing stories. It is an often-used strategy in Italy, Gabanelli said, to pressure owners of newspapers with legal threats in order to suppress critical reporting about their businesses. Fortunately, all of these cases were ruled in Gabanelli's favour.

"There are simply taboo subjects, such as all topics that could involve the newspaper's advertisers (large food and energy companies, luxury brands), to avoid the risk that they stop advertising on the newspaper and, by consequence, jeopardize the survival of the newspaper itself", Gabanelli explained. At the same time, journalists who report on organized crime are frequent targets of intimidation. "This is certainly an obstacle to my work, and it forces me to carefully choose the topic to cover", she said.

According to Gabanelli, Italian journalism is highly politicized and many tend to trust only journalists "who tell them what they want to hear". "There is mistrust, also because the harshest and most documented reports - even those involving politicians - are rarely followed-up", she added. "It all ends-up in controversy, and then everything is quickly forgotten".

For Gabanelli, the two main constraints on press freedom in Italy are extortion related to press advertising and the systematic filing of lawsuits for intimidation purposes. "I have been asking for years that severe sanctions are imposed on those who file intimidation lawsuits - like they do in the U.S. - but so far without success", Gabanelli said.
Coordination centre becoming an "important reference point"
"At the moment, the Italian government is still involved in the COVID-19 emergency that is a priority with the economic situation of Italy", Antonella Napoli, a board member of free-speech watchdog Articolo 21, said. "It seems that there is attention to the issues of press freedom and insecurity in journalism, but it is too early to understand if there is a real change of action."

Since its creation, the Coordination Centre has been an "important reference point" for journalists, Napoli said. Together with the Italian Press Association, it collects testimonies from threatened journalists and offers them protection. Nonetheless, journalists face the constant threat of legal action, especially SLAPP suits, which in Italy can reach "grotesque proportions of intimidation", Napoli said.

"You feel gagged and tied, especially if you are a freelance journalist," she said. "If you get your hands on big news about a public figure with the tendency to sue, you'll think twice. I have never stopped, but many give up because they fear consequences that they can't afford."

Some have been suspicious of the establishment of the Coordination Centre, aware of the many failed attempts over the last 20 years, Napoli told IPI. "The situation feels like another uphill battle sending ripples of a familiar sense of tiredness" she said. "I don't believe in reform anymore. If politicians are the top perpetrators, why would anyone commit to something that could backfire against them?"

To what extent the current government is going to prioritize press freedom at a time of various economic and social crises remains to be seen. However, the government's questionable role in this should not be overlooked. Recent reports revealing that Italian prosecutors wiretapped several journalists covering the migration crisis in the central Mediterranean make this even more evident.
This article by IPI is part of the Media Freedom Rapi (MFRR), a Europe-wide mechanism which tracks, monitors and responds to violations of press and media freedom in EU Member States and Candidate Countries.

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Spike in intimidation against journalists in Italy during pandemic

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On the evening of 24 October, Italian journalist Raffaella Cosentino was sent to Palermo to cover a protest against the government's COVID-19 measures organized by bar and restaurant owners.

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Article 2 – Millennials wary of corrupt media reporting

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Article 2 – Millennials wary of corrupt media reporting

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In recent years, Italian millennials have become increasingly critical of Italian media, which is traditionally very partisan and tied to political donors. Traditional media outlets, referred to a “legacy media”, have had difficulty reaching younger audiences because of this perceived mistrust. Italians under 45 are more likely than older Italians to get their news from friends and social media, while Italians over 45 are more likely to use TV and radio or national daily newspapers.

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The issue of trust and the credibility of journalism in Italy is particularly serious; in recent years a deep divide has been created between the legacy media and an important part of public opinion, especially that of the Millennials. Information, which for twenty years was the great accuser of political power and recounted its scandals and briberies every day, in the end has been regarded a part of the political game and has come under fire.

In Italy there is a political party, the 5 Star Movement, founded by former comedian Beppe Grillo, who has - among the first points of his agenda - the accusation of the media as being part of and dependent upon political power. This party does not have physical offices, lives the web, depends on the blog of its leader, and today is the second political force in Italy (the first among those who are 18 to 29 years old), with a quarter of the seats in Parliament. Every day he denounces - wrongly or rightly - the conflict of interests within the media. He carried out a long campaign to expose the subsidizing of newspapers by the government, which largely is a false issue. This "support" to the newspapers has been over for almost ten years but today the majority of young people are convinced that it still exists, and are therefore suspicious of newspapers.

Thus there is a real problem of communication between young people and the legacy media, who understand each other less and less every day. The legacy media talk a lot about young people but never with young people.

I asked seven people from the media world, all very different from each other, to analyze the problem, and I gathered the latest surveys in Italy which have studied trust in journalism. From the results that emerge it is clear that there are a number of editorial problems to be faced with courage: changing the agenda, paying less attention to power and more attention to the problems of citizens; reducing rhetoric and emphasis, writing in a manner that is clear and less self-centered. But a number of items also emerge which can help build a set of quality guidelines, capable of reconstructing a mechanism of trust, and which can be of use within the scope of the Trust Project.

The Questions:
1)  Can we talk about a crisis of trust? And if so, when did it begin?
2)  What are the defects of Italian journalism that fatigued and alienated readers?
3)   Is it possible to regain the trust of reader-citizens?
4)  In what way? What steps should be taken to give signs of credibility?
5)  Do you think that being part of an organized journalistic structure can still be recognized as valuable?

Gianni Riotta, born 1954; journalist, writer, former editor in chief of TG1 and of the daily newspaper Il Sole 24 Ore. Visiting professor at Princeton University.

1)  Can we talk about a crisis of trust? And if so, when did it begin?
The fall of the influence of the classic daily press, in the United States, dates back to 1974 (calculated for my book "Does the Web make us free?") or 1972, according to estimates by Hal Varian from Google. A generation before the Web. In Europe, around 1985 (averaged from various countries), again before the domination of the Web. Why? Because the transition from a world of masses, in the twentieth century, to a world of individuals, in the twenty-first century, makes mass communication - as studied by McLuhan and Habermas - obsolete, and makes the public keen for grassroots information: ad hoc, direct, individual. Before the web - as always in media revolutions - there was demand but no supply; the web offers supply and thus the crisis of traditional media is inescapable. The web didn't trigger it; it only allowed it to erupt.

2)  What are the defects of Italian journalism that fatigued and alienated readers?
Too many ties to power, too many topics of discussion that leave people alienated, too much attention to the agendas of tiny groups and indifference to the common discourse.
The major defect is the vice of a journalism that thinks it is giving lessons, getting on a soapbox and explaining the world to silent readers who do not have the possibility or the capacity to critique.

3)  Is it possible to regain the trust of reader-citizens?
It is not easy. Because the problem is not only about journalists, unfortunately. The crisis of confidence in authority at the end of the twentieth century also besieged religion, the economy, culture, and politics. Basically after the 60's the principle of authority was negated, with the absurd result that, for example, on medical matters (such as vaccines) science is constantly put in doubt.
The media should not preach but PRACTICE tolerance, dialogue, ideas and listening.

4)  In what way? What steps should be taken to give signs of credibility?
Transparency, dialogue and listening.

5)  Do you think that being part of an organized journalistic structure can still be recognized as valuable?
I hope so, but I am afraid it will be hard. Newspapers have broken the thread that tied them to the readers; they are prisoners of a self-referential world, focused on issues that interest few people: politicians, leaders, academics and journalists. It would require a moral and cultural shift before a professional or industry-driven change. A return to belief in communication, not in propaganda or rancor.
A young colleague with whom I work now on TV, on the topic of my old preaching to be attentive to all points of view, said "But if you do not want reports that say Black or White, you want us to make them gray!" Twenty years of populism and hyper-partisanship have produced this ignorance: I said to her that no, we are not dogs who see in black, white, or gray, we are not color-blind - but we should do our reporting with all the colors of the rainbow, no one excluded.

Beppe Severg n ini (1956) is one of the most famous Italian journalists, he was the correspondent from Italy for The Economist between 1996 and 2003 and now he is a columnist for Corriere della Sera.

1)  Can we talk about a crisis of trust? And if so, when did it begin?
The crisis of trust began with the Internet and satellite television: readers and viewers, suddenly, understood the limits of public television and traditional media. The variety brought euphoria, the euphoria was followed by confusion, and to confusion was added distrust. The healthy skepticism of the reader, with the advent of the social media, became aggressive cynicism.

2)  What are the defects of Italian journalism that fatigued and alienated readers?
Hypocrisy: saying one thing and doing another.
Subservience: the focus on power (political, economic, financial) slides often into complicity and lack of courage.
Rhetoric: writing things that even we don't believe.
Emphasis: every event is always the news of the year for the current week.
Unnecessary complexity: many events are explained poorly.

3)  Is it possible to regain the trust of reader-citizens?
It will be difficult, but we must try.

4)  In what way? What steps should be taken to give signs of credibility?
Some newspapers and some names enjoy a certain respect even from those who attack them. It is from here that we have to start, remembering that "our only boss is the reader." This means earning readers' interest: by explaining, summarizing, and anticipating. In a single word: be useful.

5)  Do you think that being part of an organized journalistic structure can still be recognized as valuable?

I think so. A newspaper is a guarantee. If it ceases to be, it will soon cease to exist.

Juan Carlos De Martin (1966) is an Italian academic. He is an Associate Professor at the DAUIN (Department of Control and Computer Engineering) of the Polytechnic of Turin, where he co-founded and directs the Nexa Center for Internet and Society. Since 2011, he is a Berkman Faculty Fellow at the Berkman Center for Internet and Society at Harvard University

1)  Can we talk about a crisis of trust? And if so, when did it begin?
A certain amount of no-confidence has always been there; readers have always suspected a conflict of interests among journalists, editors and owners, not to mention the influence of advertisers. This distrust can only be reduced, not eliminated.

That said, the decline of great ideological tensions of the 20th century has certainly had an influence, causing a decline in interest and a general increase in the level of cynicism of the people.

Massimo Russo (1965) Deputy Editor-in-Chief of La Stampa; he was formerly Editor-in-Chief of the Italian edition of Wired.

1)  Can we talk about a crisis of trust? And if so, when did it begin?
Yes, even before the Internet, but is with the Internet that it became visible.
Since the Nineties the decline of copies has never stopped, and now we sell fewer newspapers than they were selling before the Second World War, even though there were 16 million fewer people and illiteracy was rampant. The newspapers in Italy have always been perceived as self-referential and close to those in power, rather than as a service the reader. The Internet broke the balance and made other choices possible. On one hand by disrupting the newspaper tradition, and by shattering the business model that kept news, reports, hierarchy, and publicity as a single entity. On the other hand, by substituting abundance for scarcity: it is no longer the news that is scarce, but the attention of potential readers. The economic crisis did the rest, which is whythe rate of decline in copies has doubled.

Carola Frediani(1977)is social media editor at La Stampa and co-founder of the media agency Effecinque. She writes on technology, digital culture, privacy, and hacking, for a variety of publications.

1)  Can we talk about a crisis of trust? And if so, when did it begin?
It has existed for years and has increased lately. It would be easy to say it coincides with the rise of the Web in Italy, from the millennium onwards, when readers of the paper suddenly discovered that information (regardless of the type or quality of information) could be found online for free in many places.
However there are specific Italian features, in the crisis of trust, which date back even earlier and have to do with the crisis of Italian politics and the citizens' distrust of the political class. Newspapers and journalists have been equated - sometimes wrongly and often rightly - with the political class. But instead of understanding it and taking countermeasures, for years a vicious cycle continued to be fueled by a very self-referential media.

2)  What are the defects of Italian journalism that fatigued and alienated readers?

Anna Masera (1960) studied journalism at Columbia University; one of the Italian pioneers of the internet and the first social media editor of a newspaper in Italy, she is now head of communications of the Chamber of Deputies

1)  Can we talk about a crisis of trust? And if so, when did it begin?
Criticism and skepticism also existed prior to the Internet. Readers have always been, by definition, a shrewd and skeptical public regarding newspapers and journalists; even when they were an esteemed category, taking them to task was a favorite pastime.
In Italy, unlike countries with "Anglo-Saxon" journalism, the party newspapers are always flanked by those with industrial ownership and no newspaper can boast independent publishers. Few Italian newspapers have practiced a journalism that separates facts from opinions and all this has created a climate of general distrust.

2)  What are the defects of Italian journalism that fatigued and alienated readers?
The self-centeredness; the lack of independence, the lack of a spirit of service, and the lack of self-critique; the inability to listen, the search for inflamed sensationalism, the absence of fact-checking.

3)  Is it possible to regain the trust of reader-citizens?
Yes: there has never been so much hunger for quality news and information, the potential is huge.
But to the crisis of confidence mentioned above, has been added the Internet tsunami of the past 15 years. And the scandal of electronic wiretapping in "Big Brother-style" - by WikiLeaks to the NSA - which (because of its technical nature is not easily understood by a traditional media lacking this competence) saw the computer expert "whistleblowers" replacing journalists in exposing the inconvenient truths of power.

4)  In what way? What steps should be taken to give signs of credibility?
Focus on skills: in the digital era, we need a serious investment in digital skills, not only social media editors, but also data journalists and fact checkers and visual designers and mobile experts and expert hackers in information technology: these are skills that that are not improvised, if they are not on the market then we need refresher courses - Provide a public advocate of the readers; we need a "Public Editor"!

5)  Do you think that being part of an organized journalistic structure can still be recognized as valuable?
Yes! But we need AWARENESS, a desire to innovate and experiment continuously until winning recipes are found in new media; we must shake off the dead weight.

Arianna Ciccone (1970) is the founder of the Perugia International Journalism Festival and of the website Valigia Blu (Blue Suitcase).

1)  Can we talk about a crisis of trust? And if so, when did it begin?
Yes, it was only a matter of time. The network and social media only gave the final push. From 2010 to 2013, Italian newspapers have lost 3 and a half million readers. Who are they? 2.6 million readers are between 14 and 44 years old. (Source FIEG: Italian Publishers Association)

2)  What are the defects of Italian journalism that fatigued and alienated readers?
First of all an unhealthy obsession with politics, then a loss of quality and credibility, and the inability to question or discuss.

3)  Is it possible to regain the trust of reader-citizens?
Yes, even if it is very late in the game. But it takes commitment, humility and a desire to put yourself into a discussion and to listen. And it means not considering most people as just "readers" - they are much more. The correction of errors is fundamental, done in a clear and transparent way.

4)  In what way? What steps should be taken to give signs of credibility?
It requires transparency, independence, a capacity for dialogue and discussion. Quality of content and the ability to open up to "those who were once the public" and who are now active participants in the information ecosystem.

5)  Do you think that being part of an organized journalistic structure can still be recognized as valuable?
I'll tell you the truth: today, as far as I'm concerned, the unfortunate answer is no.

At the end of July the Valigia Blu website (founded and run by Arianna Ciccone) conducted a very interesting survey on trust in journalism in its community, from which 1,000 people responded, and many of them young people (18-29 years: 25%; 30-39: 32%; 40-49: 20%)

http://www.valigiablu.it/? p=25108&shareadraft=baba25108_55c449dec7eaa

The panel is not representative of the Italian population, but it represents a younger, internet-savy, highly educated, tendentially liberal audience.

The survey shows that the primary source of news is social media and that the information is primarily mobile.

n=152                n=1013
87%            83%
agree or strongly agree that today most information sources are biased

62%            52%
receive news from sources that do not have a particular point of view
Attitude: "critical" - disillusioned

Youth and social media
YOUTH (18-29):        TOTAL SAMPLE:
n=152                n=1013
50%            32%
get news from a journalist or information broadcaster followed on Facebook

64%            47%
get news from friends, family and colleagues followed on Facebook

sources on Facebook have greater legitimacy and authority?

At the end I collect the most interesting data from AGCOM (Italian Communications Authority) - Economic statistical service
1) Trust is based on the credibility that each newspaper editorial is able to instill in readers. Table 27 shows data on consumer preferences with regard to information which tends to be "impartial / neutral", which means it meets the traditional rules of verification, as opposed to that which is "biased", and the comparison between the importance given to the individual reporter rather than the newspaper of reference.

Table 27 - The credibility of information in Italy
Italy        Men        Women    Under45      Over45

"Impartial" source      69%        70%        68%        74%            64%
"Biased" source        31%        30%        32%        26%            36%

Importance of the journalist:
Yes it is important    72%        70%        73%        70%             74%
No it isn't important  10%        10%        11%        11%            10%
Importance of the newspaper:
Yes it is important    66%        69%        64%        57%             75%
No it isn't important  11%        11%        12%        14%            8%

Source: based on authoritative data from Reuters Institute Digital News Report 2014 - YouGov

2) Regardless of gender and age, consumers prefer news as neutral as possible; in this context, the biggest difference is found among young people and adults. 36% of adults compared with 24% of young people prefer biased information.

3) Another element to consider is how public confidence is attributed to a source of information; in particular, the survey compares journalists and the editorial brand. From Table 27 the crucial role played by the individual journalist emerges, which is as important as the newspaper of reference. This evidence is once again the result of the new digital environment.

4) In the past, through traditional means, reliance was more often on the brand instead of the individual journalist; in confirmation of this, the data shows that it is precisely those over 45 who feel that the editorial brand is more important, while among the youngest surveyed, the prevailing tendency is to consider the individual journalist as especially important, much less the newspaper of reference.

5)Whereas at present the information system is based on the work of dissemination to the public, carried out by new and old content publishers, current trends seem to imply the increasing role of the individual journalist. All this is helped by the ease with which it is possible to provide information content. As confirmation of such, an interesting result of this research is that social media amplifies the importance of the individual journalist. This poses another dilemma for editors-in-chief, that on one hand they may promote the reputation of an individual journalist to get more readers on their news sites; on the other hand, readers may become more loyal to journalists and their pages on social media, than to the editorial brand, with the journalists themselves becoming the brand.

6) Figure 104 shows the main sources used to gather information about political issues. The data shows that television and the national daily newspapers, even in online versions, are the main source of information, including for political purposes. Immediately following are the local daily newspapers preceding, just slightly, informal sources such as discussions with friends, relatives and colleagues.

Figure 104 - Main sources for political information
18-44 (under 45) / 45+ (over 45)
Email11% 10%
Social Media24% 17%
TV and Radio47% 62%
Local Daily Newspapers (including web)30% 31%
National Daily Newspapers (including web)44% 60%
Friends, Parents, Colleagues 35% / 18%

Source: based on authoritative data from Reuters Institute Digital News Report 2014 - YouGov

7) Interesting differences emerge from the comparison between those over and under 45. Confirming the above, even for information of a political nature, a difference in consumer behavior can be noted; in particular, the youngest people are using less traditional media (television, newspapers), while nearly double the percentage of those under 45 use discussions among friends, relatives, co-workers, and social media as a news source (24% against 17% of older consumers).

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The issue of trust and the credibility of journalism in Italy is particularly serious; in recent years a deep divide has been created between the legacy media and an important part of public opinion, especially that of the Millennials.

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I media italiani sono molto concentrati su televisione e radio. Più italiani ricevono notizie dalla televisione che dai giornali. Molti giornali nazionali hanno un pubblico élite che conosce la politica. La politica italiana ha una grande influenza sul giornalismo televisivo. Molti giornalisti italiani sono molto legati alla politica di partito. Lo stato aiuta a finanziare le organizzazioni dei media in tutta Italia. La Radiotelevisione Italiana (RAI) è di proprietà del Ministero dell'Economia e delle Finanze.

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Television is a major agenda setter within the Italian public sphere. The audiences are higher than those in many other countries...