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The media landscape in Italy

In reaction to the print media crisis Italian publishers are increasingly merging to form large groups, with the result that the country's press is becoming less diverse. The division of the media landscape among large companies reflects the dividing line between the two main ideological blocs, the conservative Right and the Centre-left.

Kolosseum
Foto: Allerina & Glen MacLarty, Lizenz: Creative Commons by/2.0

The conservative head of government Silvio Berlusconi is accused of having a conflict of interest owing to his dual functions as prime minister and entrepreneur. Berlusconi controls the major commercial TV group Mediaset while at the same time exerting influence over public TV broadcaster RAI.

Since between them Mediaset und RAI control just under 90 percent of the TV market and 70 percent of Italians keep up to date with the news through television, they can be said to occupy a monopoly position. The Berlusconi family's financial holding company Fininvest also controls the Monadori publishing group (glossies and other magazines), the conservative daily Il Giornale, and as a shareholder of the financial institution Mediobanca sits on the supervisory board of the RCS media group (Corriere della Sera and La Gazzetta dello Sport). The main competitor of the Corriere is the Rome-based daily La Repubblica, which belongs to the Gruppo Editoriale L'Espresso publishing conglomerate. Together with L'Espresso news magazine it forms the counterbalance to the print media controlled by Berlusconi.

Since 1981, when a new press financing law was introduced, the newspapers have enjoyed a special status. The law regulates the direct and indirect state subsidies allocated to the print media in order to guarantee their independence. However these subsidies are now being cut. While the 2010 budget for the print media was 320 million euros, for 2011 it has been reduced to just 180 million.

Online magazines, despite their frequently close ties to political groups, are informative and of a very high standard. Italian blogs deal mainly with national problems. One Italian blogger who has become well-known abroad is Beppe Grillo, creator of the protest initiative V-Day, which has over 50,000 members in Italy.

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