TheJoan Shorenstein Barone Center

PRESS. POLITICS

'PUBLICPOLICY.

HarvardUniversitY JohnF. KennedySchool of Government IrurnonucrroN

Sylvia Poggioli, who coversItaly and, in these Silvio Berlusconi.They're in it for money and turbulent times, central and eastem Europefor power, probably in that order. And they're National Public Radio, was a Fellow at the |oan getting both. ShorensteinBarone Center on the Press,Politics In the process,there are problems. Many and Public Policy for the fall semesterof the Italians, even some in government/ are con- 1990-1991academic year. Her researchfocused cernedthat too much power may come to rest in on pressconcentration in ltaly, but her story too few hands.One official report said: "Power of could apply with equal drama to other European inJormation could be replacedby power over countries,too. information." Poggioli'sresearch strongly Across the continent, the winds of change suggeststhat the concern is valid. Investigative have beenblowing with unprecedentedforce. reporting into businessesor interests controlled Totalitarian communism has collapsed.Ger- by the Big-Fourhas been curtailed. Some stories many has been reunited. Economic integration of are simply off-limits. western Europehovers on the near horizon. In The Big-Fouralso effectively control the "Soviet the easta new (Jnion" arisesagainst a advertisingmarket in Italy-up to 80-85% of it. backdropof tenifying uncertainty. Everywhere A new entrepreneurwishing to establish an the old political and economicsystems are being additional television network, or a new newspa- transformed.It is then no surprise that newspa- per, will find it difficult to crack the advertising pers,radio and television stations, magazines, market, and thereforenext to impossible to publishing houses-the whole, complicated challengethe existing constellation of press network of masscommunication, so intimately power. linked to politics and the creation of public fournalists find themselvesfunctioning in a policy-are also in the processof major renova- new environment of fierce competition, in tion. which professionalvalues are often undercut by Poggioli'sis a story about Italian iournalism, economic considerations.Is democracyhurt or Italian industry and finally Italian politics. Untii helpedby thesenew factors? not too many years ago,the Italian presswas, as The concentration of more and more newspa- she put it, a "politically-subsidized" institution. persand radio/television in fewer and fewer Not unlike the pressin colonial America, Italian handshas broken the back of the old system of newspapersrepresented ltalian political parties political parties controlling the press,but it has or movements. The church had its own newspa- spawneda new set of concernsand challengesin per and radio station. The Christian Democrats Europethat may undermine the recent moves had theirs. They coveredthe news, but generally toward democracy.Poggioli has taken an impor- only the news compatible with their own politi- t,rnt step with her research and report toward cal views and agendas.They were not the Italian illuminating a major economic and political equivalent of the old Pravda, but they weren't developmentin Italy and throughout Europe.It's The New York Times either. one that fascinatesus-and should concern us. Then, in the past few years,as a direct result of the drive and determination of a remarkably Marvin Kalb small, acquisitive, vigorous group of business- Edward R. Munow Prolessor men, this institution that once dependedprima- Director, foan Shorenstein Barone Centet on the rily upon political patronagehas now been Press,Politics and Public PolicY turned on its head and converted into a busi- lohn F. Kennedy School of Government "lucrative ness-to quote Poggioli, a business." Harvard University Four men dominate the news industry: Giovanni Agnelli, Carlo DeBenedetti,Raul Gardini and THE IVIEDIA IN EUROPE AFTER 1992: A CASE STUDY OF IA REPWBLICA

At the end of fuly 1990,the Italian media one tycoon, developedalongside the state-run world was rockedby a caseof censorship.The networks. This was made possibleby succeeding Rizzoli publishing company, one of the biggest governments' failure-or unwillingness-to in the country, suddenly announcedit had apply antitrust laws in the publishing sectorand cancelledplans to publish L'Intrigo (The In- to the total absenceof antitrust legislation in the trigue), the story of the attempted hostile take- commercial television sector.I proposeto show over of the best-sellingItalian dally, La in this paperhow the attempted hostile takeover Repubblica. The book was written by the well- of La Repubblica brought to the attention of known joumalist Gianpaolo Pansa,deputy editor Italian public opinion and-belatedly-of Italian of.La Repubblica. politicians the new and extraordinarydevelop- The book was ready for the presses.The last ment of an unparalleledmedia concentratron galley proofs had been corrected,the cover was with political implications that are powerful but already designed,the first printing had been set still undefined.In Italy today a tiny elite of for 70,000copies, and bookstoreswere already businessbarons-newsmakers in their own making orders.Rizzoli's decision not to publish right, as well as the major advertisers-have was unexpected.A company official told Pansa becomethe major media owners. that the book was too polemical towards people with whom Rizzoli has businessrelationships.t Those "people" were Silvio Berlusconi,the In ltaly today a tiny elite of television tycoon who started from scratch and built one of the world's biggestcommercial busrnessb arons-newsmakerc television empires. in their own right, as well as Berlusconiis the man who tried to take over the maior advertisers-hav e Rizzoli's rival and the country's biggestpublish- ing company, Mondadori. The company operates becomethe maior media ownerc. fifteen dailies, thirty-five magazines-including the two maior newsweeklies- and publishes about 2,000 books ayear. And the iewel in the The Highest Degree of Media Concentration in Mondadori crown is La Repubblica the paper, the Industrialized West founded in L976,which had revolutionized The battle for control of Mondadori has a cast Italian joumalism. of charactersand ingredients that could compete Berlusconi succeededin wresting control of with the glitzy soapoperas that are the usual fare Mondadori from Carlo De Benedetti-who is on Berlusconi'stelevision networks. Pansa's also the boss of Olivetti-in |anuary 1990.For book (publishedin October 1990by another months, the power struggle grabbedheadlines. company, Sperlingand Kupfer| describespolitical But by |une, following a legal battle that is still and financial intrigues and behind-the-scenes not over/ De Benedetti was back in command of political patrons and speculateson the probable the publishing company. goalsof the Mondadori takeover.But for the In August, after fourteen years of prolonged Rizzoli publishing company L'Intfigo was akin debate and a regulatory vacuum in which to an insider's Satanic Verces-e threat to a Berlusconiflourished, the Italian Parliament delicate balanceand silent agreementsin the finally passedantitrust legislation in the broad- media world and a seriousirritant for cast media sector-a bill which more or less Berlusconi'spolitical allies. sanctionedthe existing division of the television Rizzoli means Fiat, the auto giant, and there- spoils between Berlusconi and the three state- fore its patriarch Gianni Agnelli, the most run RAI television networks. powerful industrialist in ltaly. Agnelli is owner The events of the summer of 1990marked the of the Turin dai|y La Stampa, the country's third climax of a decadeduring which newspaper biggestpaper and through Fiat's indirect control readership more than doubled and the Italian of Rizzoli, Fiat controls the Milan daily // media underwent massive transformationsfrom Corrierc della Seru,one of ltaly's oldest and a politically-subsidized pressto a lucrative most prestigiouspapers. In covering the battle businessnow controlled by non-media conglom- for Mondadori, Il Corrierc della Serahad main- erates.At the same time, a commercial televi- tained an attitude of rigorous neutrality which sion sector,dominated almost exclusively by Pansa'sbook could have jeopardized.

Sylvia Poggiok 1 The attempted takeover of La Repubblica was copiesprinted in Great Britain (with a popula- "cause a c6ldbre" that dominated the nation's tion of roughly the same size!,while the fapa- headlinesfor six months. Many observersagree nesedaily Asahi Shinbun alone had more than that the operation was maneuveredby the twice the entire circulation of all Italian newspa- SocialistParty and a large faction of the Chris- pers together.And Italy had one of the lowest tian Democrat Party to silence the first truly readershipsin the West far lower than, for independentnewspaper in post-war Italy and its example,the U.S. and Sweden.a gadfly founder-editor.The operation failed, but it This situation reflected the original sin of left its mark and La Repubblica is potentially the Italian daily press,which developed(as in lessindependent than it used to be. many other Europeancountries) not as a public The Italian media today is controlled by the serviceand/or a profit-making business,but country's mafor industrialists. In addition to rather as an instrument to uphold a cause/or a Agnelli, Berlusconi and De Benedetti,there is family or political or economic interests.After Raul Gardini whose Feruzzi agribusinessgiant World War Two, this situation did not changein owns the financial dally ltalia Oggi and, through Italy, and the media's close ties with political his control of the petrochemical giant parties and with economic forcesbecame tighter. Montedison, the Rome daily /i Messaggerc. Data on circulation and balance sheetswere not According to a 1989report by the Italian Cham- made public and often even the names of the ber of Deputies, media concentration in Italy has publishers were unknown. no parallel in any country with a free market According to Ignazio Weiss, a media scholar economy.2 who becamea detective to penetratethe wall of As Laura Colby, Rome correspondentof. The secrecysurrounding the newspaperpublishing Wall Streetlournal, has written, there is no world, only about a dozen of the dailies of the equivalent situation in the United States."It is 1960swere in the black.sPaolo Murialdi, a as if IBM owned The New York Times, GM The specialistin the history of Italian iournalism, has WaIl Street lournal, and Exxon The Washington observedthat no one seemedoverly concerned Post--only worse since these entrepreneurs that newspapercompanies served non-publishing control companieswhose stock accountsfor half interests.6This view echoedthe position of the value of all stocks traded on the Italian stock Mario Missiroli, for years editor of Il Corriere exchange."3 della Sera,who believed that a newspaper'smost The big Italian industrial and financial groups important goal was not to provide its owners now control nearly fifty percent of daily newspa- with financial revenues but to be concerned with "political per copiessold, and there is hardly any maior profits."T consumerproduct in the country that they do When necessary-when a paper was not not produce.Their interests cover a vast area: owned by a wealthy family which used it to autos,oil, chemicais, agdbusiness,insurance strike deds with the political world-the domi- companies,real estate,computers and even nant political parties took pains to cover the aerospaceand armaments. (SeeTable l.) paper's deficits. Nearly all Italian newspapersin What was onse known as the "pure" publisher the 1950sand 1960sshowed little attention for whose interests were restricted to the media, has their readers:their primary goal was to satisfy all but disappearedin ltaly. This is a result both the concernsof the political powers. Italy has of some of the traditional characteristicsof the never had a popular tabloid newspaperalong the Italian pressand of a market that has suddenly Iines of the German Bild or the sensationalist becomeactive after decadesof stagnation, British press-papers which seek profits by offering unexpected revenues that have attracted reflecting the tastes and mood of their readers. the big industrial goups. To understand the For decades,local papers, which focus on transformationsthe Italian presshas undergone political and social problems in a city or region, in the last fifteen years it is useful briefly to were also unknown in ltaly. All newspapers review the state of the Italian pressin the focused on national issues and had a dispropor- seventies. tionate coverageof foreign news-distant and therefore not threatening to parochial interests. Sylvia Sprigge,a British journalist who wrote Decades of Stagnation about the Italian pressof the time, praisedits For decades/newspapers were unable to go international coveragebut observedthat a "sinister beyond the barrier of four million copiessold force seemedto descendon domestic daily. They printed one-third the number of news which instantlv took the form which

2 The Media in Europe After 1992:A Case Study of La Repubblica would be pleasingto editor and publisher.,, Crisis and Ferment in the Mid 7970s Spriggeadded that Italian public opinion could The immobility of the newspaperpublishing not be identified through the press.B sectorwas shakenin the mid-seventieswhen the coalition formula that had governedthe country for about fifteen years-the so-calledcenter-left A11newspaperc focused on (Christian Democrars,Socialists, Social Demo- national rssuesand had a crats and Republicans)-began to fall apart.The Italian Communist Party (PCI)was making dispropoftionate coverageof gains,garnering a growing consensusin the forcign news-distant and upper-middleclass, and the country was over- therefore not threatening to taken by an urge for change.The fraying of the center-left formula createdtensions between the parcchial interests. political parties,and the subsequentpower vacuum rekindled the battle for control of newspapers.These were also the yearsin which The resulting paradoxwas that small provin- Italy's powerful state-run industries, controlled cial paperssuch as La Gazzetta del Popolo, by the government parties through political which sold tens of thousandsof copiesin Pied- appointeesin proportion to their parliamentary mont, dedicatedpages and pagesto foreign news, representation(mainly Christian Democratsand sendingspeciai correspondents to AIrica, Latin Socialists),took advantageof the economic crisis America and China, and maintaining permanent and set their aims on many of the bastionsof correspondentsin New York, Bonn, London and private industry. Paris.Deficits were regularly coveredby political The print presswas undergoingits worst patrons.In the caseof La Gazzetta del Popolo it financial crisis and it suddenly becamethe focus was the Christian Democrat Party which had the of a harsh battle with unexpectedshifts in final say in appointing and deposingthe alliances.The key player was the president newspaper'seditors. of the state-ownedoil company, ENI (Ente The chronic deficits of Italian dailies enabled Nazionale ldrocarburi),Eugenio Cefis, a Chris- politicians to control the pressto an extent tian Democrat who succeededin conqueringand unparalleledin a Europeancountry. |ournalism becoming presidentof the giant chemical group scholar Nello Aiello has describedit as part of a Montedison, one of the sanctuariesof private specific and coordinated strategy:Italy is the industry. only country with a freemarket economy where "interest" "political" Commenting on the public sector/s newspapershave a price, that is, a in the press,Aiello describesit as an "assault."12 fixed price establishedby the government.e The ways used to control or buy newspapers Legislation on the print pressrequires that the were often so contorted (through cover names, price be set every year, taking publishing costs friends, cronies,and even specially-created and inflation into account. But the obligation has companies)that they prompted the economist often been ignored, and in 1975 the International FrancescoForte to dub many newspapers"chil- PressInstitute, the London-basedinternational dren of unknown fathers," born of marriages organization of editors who fight for freedom of between the pressand the powers that be.'3Pier the press,denounced Italy for violation of Augusto Marchi has written that one could freedom of the pressfollowing a long price freeze "only try to guesswho the real owner between I97l and 1974. is or more accuratelywho coversthe deficits, who is the The law also provided tax discounts and other benefactorand who is doing the comrption."ra forms of subsidies. These, however, were granted Cefis was acting on behalf of state-owned only occasionallyand selectively. According to industries and severalsectors of the Christian Aiello, such forms of state intervention pre- Democrat Party, the biggestItalian Party, which vented a normal economic developmentand had run the country since 1948 and was in crisis, reflected an unexpressed but traditional concept divided and unsure of itself. The power vacuum of newspapersas an extension of the political that followed the demise of the center-left parties in office.t0The question of a "political" government formula (which led to a center-right price is particularly important in Italy because coalition| stimulated the pressto take critical still today sales are the maior source of revenue positions. The first seriousscandals came to for newspapers-sixty percent (with forty per- light involving slush funds and payoffs by both cent from advertising) compared to twenfy public and private industry to government percentin the u.s.rr

Sylvia Poggioli 3 parties,and these scandalswere given extensive almost nonexistent, and only a small minority of newspapercoverage. ln 1974,the nonclerical newspapers(five to six percent)procured it presswas solidly together in endorsing a " no" directly. Nearly all paperswent through the vote in the referendumfor repealof divorce national agencies,the biggestof which was SPLt8 legislation; and in 1977 the same papersbacked a In just over one hundred days Cefis acquired parliamentary bill legalizing abortion. control of Il Corriere della Sera,helped found 11 The seventieswere also the decadeof "black Giornale, and put a "publisher" of his own at la conspiracies,"the terroristbombings that have Gazzetta del Popolo in Turin, the city of his still gone unpunished,but which have been rival Agnelli. Then, violating his proclaimed attributed to ultra-rightwing groups,and whose strategyfor indirect control, Montedison bought purpose-what has become known as the "strat- Il Messaggero,the most important Rome daily egy of tension"-was to frighten public opinion, and the bestsellingpaper in the South. move the country to the right, and weaken the What were Cefis'goals?In his long report to Communists, who by mid-decadewere govem- the Montedison Boardof Trustees announcing ing many major Italian cities, including Rome. his acquisition, Cefis accusedthe pressof having With the onslaught of rightwing terrorism, the a hostile attitude toward the industrial giant pressstepped up its denunciation and criticism Montedison. He spokeof hostile campaigns of the power system, and a wide section of the orchestratedby his enemies,and he proclaimed middle classbegan to look to the Communists as his right to be presentin the information sector. a possiblegoverning alternative-even Giannr Cefis pointed out that Il Messaggelo"is the most Agnelli's niece SamaritanaRatazzi announced important paperin the capital and therefore publicly tn 1976that she was voting communist. particularly influential in the forums where This was the period when Pier Paolo Pasoiini- decisionsare taken that are fundamentally film director, poet "maudit," communist and gay important for the group's activities." re -had an often controversial column on the front Cefis was defendingMontedison's industrial pageof Il Corriere della Sera,the mouthpiece of strategy,but he was also seekingan instrument the industrial bourgeoisieof the North. to influence politicians and bureaucrats.I/ The surprise,anger and dismay of the Chris- Messaggeroput itself at the Socialists'disposal tian Democrat Party was manifested in its organ, but at the sametime softenedits harsh polemics 11Popolo. The paper denouncedthe existenceof toward the Christian Democrats.At the end of "intrigues," "crusadesagainst the Christian his one-hundred-dayblitz, Montedison con- Democrats," "conspiraciesin ink", and "repel- trolled newspapersrepresenting nearly all the lant and vulgar maneuvers" againstthe Party. t5 government parties,and which occasionallyeven 11Popolo steppedup its attacks againstthe showedattention for the opposition Commu- Agnelli family, frontrunners of private industri- nists. IJ Messaggerosupported the Socialists,/J alists, and often criticized newspapereditors and Gionale leanedtoward the more conservative journalists by name. In this tense climate, factions among the Christian Democrats, 11 EugenioCefis of ENI and Montedison carried out Corriere della Sera was liberal democrat, which his blitz to control the press.In principle, accord- flattered the more progressiveChristian Demo- ing to his close aide Gioachino Albanese,Cefis' crats, and was not hostile toward the Commu- strategywas not to buy newspapersbut to nists. The political panoramaof the major finance publishers.t6Itwas not a difficult opera- newspapersof the day was completed by // tion: in those yearsthe chronic deficits of Italian Giorno in Milan, owned by the state-run oil dailies had further increased(in 1973,the deficit company ENI and leaning toward the Christian of.Il Corriere della Sera, at the time the bestsell- Democrats and Socialists;the large regional ing paper,had reachedmore than sevenbillion papers,La Nazione of Florence and 11Resto del lire (nearly $12 million at the then-current Carlino in Bologna were controlled by the exchangerate|.r7 Publishers had a hard time oilman Attilio Monti; a large poftion of the press getting loans from banks since their papers in Sardiniawas controlled by oilman and chemi- offeredno guarantees. cal industrialist Nino Rovelli; Il Tempo of Rome Cefis beganputting pressureon state-run belongedto cement industrialist Carlo Pesenti, "a banks and offeredMontedison as guarantee." endLa Stampa was owned by Fiat-Agnelli. He won control of SPI (societdPubblicitaria Italiana),at the time the largestItalian advertis- ing agencywhich controlled more than fifty percent of the market. Local advertisingwas

4 The Media in Europe After 1992:A Case Study of La Repubblica Il Corriere della Seraand Subversive Conspiracies The 1970swere the decadeof a In the end,Cefis' maneuversto control 11 Corriere della Seraresulted in the worst disas- dfuect assaulton the press,first by ter-political and professional-that the Italian state-tunindustries acting as pressever experienced:the virtual takeover of prcxies the political powers, the paperby the P-2 Masonic lodge,a secrer for organization that, accordingto the findings of a and then by the P-2, which subsequentParliamentary investigating commis- transformed the country's most sion, had tried to form a shadow government prestigiouspapet into the organ with the purposeof subverting the democratic order in Italy. In order to control the paper,Cefis of a subverciveplot. in 1974helped publisher Angelo Rizzoli buy // della procuring Corriere Seraby loans from The 1970swere the decadeof a direct assault banks linked to Montedison and other stare-run on the press,first by state-run industries acting banks. Rizzoli was thus able to buy all the shares as proxies for the political powers,and then by oI II Corriere. the P-2,which transformed the country's most Rizzoli soon becameone of the biggestpub- prestigiouspaper into the organ of a subversive lishing empires in Europewith a turnover of 200 plot. Italian newspaperswere in worse shape billion lire (about $330 million at the then- than ever. Circulation in 1975was stagnantat cunent exchange year). rate-a But it was an four and a half million copiesa day and new empire built on debts. Il Corriere della Sera ran legislation passedthat year on rhe print press- up a deficit ($1.6 of nearly one billion lire mil- conditioning the granting of subsidieson publi- lion)a day.And Rizzoli multiplied his debts, cation of financial accounts-revealed a financial counting on public funds as well as the careful disasterof unexpectedproportions: only two out diplomacy with which he flattered all the of seventy-fourdailies were in the black. 2tThe political parties, including the Communists. He Association of Italian NewspaperPublishers bought papersfor everyone:from the South (Ia {Unione Editori) reportedoverall lossesof I00 Cazzetta del Mezzogiorno andI1 Mattinol to the billion lire and appealedro the government to (/1 North lAlto Adige) to the East Piccolo in liberalize the price of newspapers.22The govern- Trieste)to the West {// Lavoro in Genoa).The ment, however, approveda number of press "pure" publisher "subseryient" becamea pub- subsidieswhich, accordingto Paolo Murialdi, lisher and invented what Gian PaoloPansa forced publishers periodically to go calling on rhe "a press describesas with limited sovereignty."20 political parties to ensuretheir newspapers' Rizzoli'sdebts reached26l billion lire ($343 survival.B million), without counting interest payments. The publisherioined forceswith the P-2secret lodgeand with BancoAmbrosiano-Italy's The Benefit to lournalists from Press Chaos largestprivate bank. Bank president Roberto "God's The political turmoil surrounding the press Calvi-known as banker" for his links provedbeneficial for journalists, who otherwise with the Vatican-bought forty percent of did not have much to inspire them.2aIn the Rizzoli shares.But /l Corrierc della Serudid not existing political vacuum, Italian journalists protecting succeedin Calvi and the P-2 when the enjoyeda period of great exuberanceand their Masoniclodge scandal broke in 1981.When the first feeling of freedom.At every changeof government revealedthe names of the secret ownership, journalists succeededin winning new lodge's500 members, not only was Angelo concessionsincreasing their power within Rizzoli on the list, but so also were the editors of newspapersand expandingwhat came to be sevenof his newspapers,including the editor of known as "rights and duties to freedom of jail. Il Conierc della Sera,Rizzoli endedup in information. " When Cefis bought I1 Messaggero, Calvi's body was found hanging under London's he was forced to grant his iournalists (who had Blackfriars Bridge-the causeof death still a been occupying the newspaperoffices for mystery. II Coniere della Sera was placed in monthsl the right to elect two deputy editors, receivership.By 1984,the papercame under the the right to be consulted on every transfer and control of Fiat-Agnelli after long and compli- change of position of reporters, and the right to cated negotiations with the political parties. object to any lay-offs.The publisher agreed"not

Sylvia Poggioli 5 to carry out any action contrary to the demo- of EugenioScalfari, former editor of.L'Espresso cratic and antifascist policy of the paper" and and inventor of financial reporting in Italy. grantedrepresentatives of the ioumalists' union In his first editorialon fanuary 14, 1976, the right "to verify that this pledgebe re- Scalfari,as editor and a minority shareholder,set spected."2sfournalists, therefore,were granted seeminglyrevolutionary goals for the newspaper: juridical powers with which to participate in the absolutefinancial independenceas a means of managementof information. achievingpolitical independence.Scalfari prom- When Rizzoli bought II Corriere della Sera, ised that if within four years La Repubblica was its reporterswere granteda"statute of rights." not in the black he would close the paper.Its This envisageda sort of "collective manage- commitment would be to the market and not to ment" of the paperwith maximum autonomy political patrons.This meant the paperhad to grantednot only to the headsof the various heed readers'interests by discovering,nurturing "no sectorsbut also to reporters: article with a and defendingthem. In various interviews, "un- byline can be substantially altered without the Scalfaritalked about the existenceof an reporter'sconsent" and "a reporter assignedto known reader"who had previously enjoyedno write an article has in principle the right to have right of representationin the press,and he his articlepublished."26 addressedhimself to what he defined as the These were yearsof the great strikes and labor "leading class" of Italian society-not only unrest, and the reportersand printers joined managers,industrialists and professors,but also forces.The pact that had linked the maior students,teachers and trade unionists. Scalfari newspapersand the Christian Democrats was said that the paperwas not interested in a falling apart. The pressbegan to investigate reader'sincome bracket but the role he or she political scandalsand many paperstook posi- played in society.3oAnd he proclaimed that La tions againstthe Christian Democrats. Repubblica was addressingitself to the entire Guglielmo Zucconi, then editor of the Chris- spectrum of the left. In those years,the Italian tian Democrat weekly La Discussionetwrote Ieft had lost its class-orientedideology, and had that "those yearswere filled with acquisitions of begun to embracea wide variety of movements newspapersfor a specific purposeand which from feminism to student rights to environmen- then endedup serving another. This is where talism. La Repubblica addresseditself to Italians reportersrather than publishers played a funda- who wanted to modernize the country's politics, mental role."27It was what Piero Ottone, editor creatinga reformist alternative to the long of.Il Corriere della Sera before the P-2 infiltra- dominion of the Christian Democrats who had tion, called a "happy paradox" of a pressthat had been at the helm of government since i948. "never been so free and never in such a deep financial crisis."28At the time, many reporters, accordingto Gian Paolo Pansa,were living the La Repubblicaaddressed itself to great illusion of being heroeswaging a battle in Italians who wanted to defenseof pressfreedom. " Actually," he con' cedes,"we were moving in a kind of no man's modernizethe country's politics, land, in a deceptivevacuum of authority." But in ueating a reformist alternative to that uncertain, restless,and rapidly changing the long dominion of the Christian Italy, the journaiists'excited fervor did not have much effect on pubic opinion, circulation Democratswho had beenat the remained stagnantand the great maiority of "alien helm of governmentsince 1948. potential readerscontinued to reject those newspapers."2e Scalfariwanted La Repubblica to be an independentpaper but not a neutral one, offering "orientation La Repubblica, a Maverick Independent Paper rather than iust news facts."3rThe Against this backdrop of political confusion, original idea was that it would be a secondpaper, "traditional" crisis, and severesocial tensions, the first issue flanking a newspaper.It came out of La Repubblica appearedon newstandsin in tabloid format, the first ever in ltaly. Its fanuary 1976.The paperwas the product of two headlineswere polemical and sometimes stri- "pure" publishers-Mondadori and L'Editoriale dent, and there were no pictures. It presented L'Espresso,which published the newsweekly itself as a national paper and ignored local news. L'Espresso.But it was essentially the brainchild It dedicatedextensive coverage to cultural

6 The Media in Ewope After 1992:A Case Study of La Repubblica subfectsand to entertainment,and little or none tional paper(for yearsit avoidedregional sec- to sports,and a specialsection dealt with eco- tions with local news),addressing itself to all nomic and financial news.The credoof the paper Italians,breaking with an old tradition of re- and of its editor includeda freemarket economy gional newspaperscommercially and culturally {in a country where half of industry was state- rooted in a specific region. While La Stampa sold ownedfand political and socialreforms. its copiesnearly exclusively in Piedmont and /J This elitist formula did not last long and was Corriere della Serain Lombardy and Veneto, Ia overcomeby the paper'ssuccess. Today, La Repubblica was evenly distributed throughout Repubblica is filled with sports,crime coverage the country, from Enna in Sicily to Udine in the and pictures, and in severalcities there are northwest near the Austrian border. The new specialsections dedicated to local news.The paperwas a novelty that counteredSoutherners' "cultural paperalso broke out of the strictly Italian arena entrenchedsuspicions toward the and promoted an exchangeof articles with the colonization" of northern newspapers. British daily The Independent and the Spanish La Repubblica's political line was aggressive paperEl Pais. and its style straightforward,making no conces- EugenioScalfari is known in Italy as an editor- sions to the byzantine and cryptic tone of tradi- protagonistwho instills in his papera touch of tional newspapers.Its editorial headlinesmani- emotion and passion together with managerial festedindignation with a political system built rigor. He is a journalist of what Aiello calls the on negotiatedbackroom dealsbetween govem- Anglo-Mediterraneanschool.32 He came to ment parties and on a diffusion of power affect- fournalism from the banking world and is ing every aspectof society from banks to the consideredthe founder of financial reporting, the pressto state industries. Editorials describedit as first who made popular a subject Italian newspa- "a system in which nothing changed" and which pershad always ignored. Scalfari'scareer had was becoming "suffocating" with the emergence developedalongside a journalism of denuncia- of political scandals.La Repubblica beganto "the tion that addresseditself to an intellectual elite, raise what came to be known as issue of first at Il Mondo and then ^t L'Esryessowhere he morality" in politics. A sampling of eariy head- "wehave was its editor for severalyears. Both magazines lines: "so many ministers for nothing," "government were weeklies and, in creating his new daily, seenthe arroganceof power", by "the Scalfariimitated their format. He wanted to divine right," palacesof Rome are no longer make a weekly that came out every day, gradu- governing," "gentlemen, this has been going on ally adding inserts, special sectionsand a maga- for 30 years."3aNo Italian newspaperhad ever zine. carried such headlines. The "weekly" formula, which lends itself Scalfari said the goal was to stimulate citi- more to commentary and opinion, was suited to zens' indignation and to createa reformist front the style of.La Repubblica.But Scalfarichose it which would lead to a democratic alternative in also as a means to enter the weekly market the country.3sAt the outset, the papershowed which, given the mediocrity of Italian newspa- interest in the Communist Party, the second pers,was the richest in Europe:in the mid- biggestin Italy, and pressedit to free itself from seventiesltalian weeklies garneredthree times ideological rigidity and becomea full participant as much in advertising revenuesas their U.S. in the political debate.Since 1948,Italy has been counterparts.33 led by governments headedby the Christian La Repubblicd was novel in other ways as Democrats and many observersagree that the well. It was the first paper to hire women report- lack of an alternative was due to the ideological ers in any quantity. Previously, women had all inflexibility of the Communist Party represent- but been excluded in daily newspapers.There ing nearly one-third of the electorate.In this were no women at Il MessaSgero,a f.ewhad same vein, the paper showed support for the succeededin getting hired at Il Corrierc della leftist faction of the Christian Democrats, Seta,a few were working at La Stampa,and encouragingit to push for a renewal of the Party there were practically none at provincial papers. which could have beneficial effects for the entire At the outset, nearly thirty percent of the report- country. ersat La Repubblica were women, and they La Repubblica's ability to shift its attention worked in all sectorsof the paper,from enter- from one political front to another, acting as a tainment to culture to foreign affairs and the protagonist seeking allies and without being businesspage. subject to pressurefrom the parties, helped it to La Reoubblica was also the first truly na- widen its readershipconsiderably. Today,

Sylvia Poggioli 7 Scalfarican boastthat his readerscover the ally taken up by a major foreign event, or the entire political spectrum from the Left to tradi- death of a famous actor or actress(Laurence tional conservatives.After tenyears,La Olivier and Creta Garbo)or a parliamentary Repubblicabecame the country's bestselling debate.It reflectsa schemeof priorities that paper.Its readersinclude large numbers of often resemblesa televisionnewscast. This women, who for the first time beganbuying a flexibility is also used for longer analytical pieces daily (previously,Italian women would read which, accordingto Angelo Agostini and Carlo whatevertheir husbandsbrought home),as well Sorrentino,focus and give relevanceto a number ashigh schooland university students,trade of issuesthat had never found spacein the daily unionists,Communist Party officials(many press.36 abandoningthe Party organL'Unitri), industrial La Repubblicatook off fast, effectivelytaking managers,professors and white collar workers. advantageof.Il Coniere della Sera'sloss of The paperbegan selling its largestnumber of credibility-and sales-after the P-2 lodge copiesin the summer,when other dailies'sales incident. With eachevent that sent tremors traditionally dropped.At this time of the year through Italian public opinion-left, rightwing families are often divided, with the wife and and Arab terrorism, the Red Brigades'kidnapping children at vacation resorts and the husband at of Aldo Moro, government crises- la work in the city, and many couplesbegan buying Repubblica'ssales increased. It had the advan- two copiesof. La Repubblica. tageof political independenceand greaterflex- La Repubbhcabecame a kind of statussym- ibility in format. In the first few months of L978 bol, and many political leadersaccused Scalfari circulationwas I I1,000.In i98l it had nearly "newspaper-party" of having createda seekingto doubled,rising then to 320,000in 1984and set the country's political agenda.The example about 700,000in 1990.37 of La Repubblica'ssuccess stimulated Italian The publishing company moved into other lournalism as a whole, with the ensuing compe- new areasand createda chain of local newspa- tition and imitation soon helping all newspapers pers,discovering readers and a market that to start reaping profits. politicians had always tried to keep on the In tabloid format, previously alien to Italian sidelines.The chain started up fourteen papers, tastes,with simple but cultivated language,the particularly in Tuscany, Umbria and Veneto, paper'sstrength also lies in an op-edpage that using modern technology and small staffs embracesa broad spectrum of opinions and has covering only local news. All the paperswere becomean establishedforum for political debate. soon making profits. La Repubblica alsoprovides spacefor political satire which unabashedlymocks all political leadersand newsmakers in the country. While The brief stageof "pt)re" Scalfarihas been describedas a Sun King, his cartoonists,especially the most celebrated, publishercended with massive Giorgio Forattini, are his Molidres-uncontrolled acquisitionsof newspapercby and often criticized for their vehemenceeven by Italy's mai or industriahsts their own editor. Criticism of politicians is accompaniedby poisonous caricatures,which and financiers. make fools of a leadershippreviously sparedthe barbsof satire. La Repubblicd representeda political revolu- Another strong point of the paper is the letters tion and it discoverednew markets, new tech- to the editor section, which openeda channel of niques and a new languagewhich its rivals could dialoguewith the readers.This section is closely not ignore. The stimulus to compete helped followed and often includes letters from cabinet other newspapersrenew themselves.Overall ministers and party leaders.The two pagesof the daily circulation finally broke through the four centerfold are dedicatedto long articles on million barrier and in i989 was at about ten cultural subiects,and the last five are filled with million.3sNearly all newspapers,with the financial and Iabor coverage. exception of those still under the rigid control of Yet another novelty of the paper is its flexibil- the political parties or stete industry, such as ity, which broke the traditional rigidity of news ENI's // Giorno, started making profits. "It was (foreign, formats national, entertainment news the end of half a century of stagnation,the 8ap etc.) and adaptsitself to events. The first few separatingItaly from the maiority of developed pages(sometimes even five or six) are occasron- countries beganto narrow."3e

8 The Media in Europe After 1992:A Case Study of La Repubblica The print pressbecame a lucrativebusiness gameand talk shows. and beganattracting the country's big economic Berlusconicreated a completely new advertis- groups.The brief stageof "pure" publishers ing market, often pursuing clients himself, first endedwith massive acquisitions of newspapers small and medium-sized companiesthat were by Italy's major industrialistsand financiers.The unable to place ads on the three RAI networks, end of the stagnation marked also the end of then increasingly important industrialists. another brief illusion. Berlusconioffered ad time at discount rates,he often took ads in exchangefor royalties on increasedsales of his clients'products,and The Arrival of Commercial Television sometimes he resortedto bartering ad time.*2 The transformation of Italian journalism in Berlusconi'stelevision company Fininvest also the seventieswas the sudden liberalization of bought the Italian equivalent of.TY Guide, the television sector and the birth of hundredsof Sorrisi e Canzoni TV. His charisma and hrs commercialtelevision stations opening up formula worked and in five yearshe becamethe a huge new advertising market. Television unchallengedemperor of commercial television. advertisingmushroomed from 700 billion lire Through his three networks-Canale 5, ($412millionlin 1979to 5600billion ($4.3 Retequattroand Italia Uno-Berlusconi con- billion) in 1987,and this had profoundeffects on trolled eighty-five percent of the private net- newspapers.ao works and had a fifty percent shareof the total The unregulateddevelopment of commercial Italian television audience.a3Turnover at his television was facilitated by the government advertising agency,Publitalia, rose from 12.5 parties,particularly the Christian Democrats and billion lire ($7million| in 1980to 1800billion Socialists,who felt they were losing their grip on ($1.3billion)in i987, controlling over sixty the print press.In 1976, the Constitutional percent of the entire television advertising Court issued a ruling that ended the television market.no broadcastingmonopoly held for twenty-two yearsby the state-run RAI. The ruling openedup the airwavesto private commercial station The careerfise of this rcaI estate broadcastsat the local level. The Court also urged Parliament to passlegislation regulating agent turned media mogul was the entire television sector,but the government due in geat paft to the close link respondedwith a long legislative vacuum which, between the media and political accordingto Paolo Murialdi, resulted in the Wild power West of the airwaves.4rAt the end of the seven- in ltaly. ties, the entire country was crowded with about one thousand commercial stations broadcasting No western industrialist, not even in the every variety of programming. deregulatedUnited Statesduring the Reagan The key player in the chaosof commercial years,could own so much. The careerrise of this television in Italy is Silvio Berlusconi,a former real estateagent turned media mogul was due in crooner on ship cruises and Adriatic searesorts/ great part to the close link between the media real estatedeveloper, owner of the Milan dally II and political power in ltaly. Berlusconiwas able Giornale and close friend of Italian Socialist to build his empire thanks to his closefriendship Party leaderBettino Craxi. Berlusconi'sstrategy with Socialist Party leaderBettino Craxi. Craxi was simple and aggressive.He formed his first had always been a strong believer in a mixed national television network in 1978.Although state-privatetelevision system. But he also had the networks were technically illegal-given the seenthat the Socialists' influence at the state- ban againstbroadcasting nationwide for com- run RAI networks had reachedits peak.osAnd mercial television stations-Berlusconi found a Berlusconioffered a vast new spacefor the loophole. AIter buying hundreds of local sta- Socialists.When in 1984 an Italian judge ordered tions, he sent each station cassettesof recorded a blackout of Berlusconi'sstations on the programs,sometimes by couriers on motor- groundsthat they were broadcastingnationally, cycles,for simultaneous broadcasting.He was it was Craxi, at the time Prime Minister, who the first to buy up popular American seriesand immediately issueda government decreeallow- soapoperas such as Dallas and Dynasty, peying ing Berlusconito resume broadcasting.The extremely high prices to get them away from the decreewas voted down by Parliament on the competition. And he filled air time with movies, grounds that it was anti-constitutional, but

Sylvia Poggioli 9 Craxi issuedanother which succeededin becom- $L9 billion, with a pre-taxprofit of I 1.5percent ing law, to the greatrelief of the broadsection of and growth running at about twenty percent a public opinion that had becomeaddicted to year."ag Dynasty,Dallas and other American television After solidifying his basein Italy, Berlusconi senes. moved into Europe.In France,he owns twenty- The legislativevacuum in which Berlusconi five percent of La Cinq, the largestFrench prosperedwas favoredalso by the other major commercial network. In Spain,he controls governmentparties. Berlusconi is a moderate twenty-fivepercent of Gestevision-Telecinco.He whoseprogramming, filled with light entertain- has control of the Yugoslav Italian-language ment, avoidedhard-hitting documentariesand network Capodistria,which beams its broadcasts investigativejournalism. His near monopoly of to Italy-twenty-four hours of sports and adver- the commercialtelevision sector prevented the tising. In April, 1990,Berlusconi signed an emergenceof other networks with journalistic exclusive advertisingagreement with aspirationsthat could be lessfriendly to the Gostelradio,the Soviet state broadcastcompany. powersthat be. In Germany, he owns a minority shareof the Berlusconi'srise was accompaniedby political Munich-basedMabel Media cable company negotiationsat RAI which further accentuated reaching2.5 million homes (about one-eighthof the parties'patronage grip on statetelevision. the West German cable market) and brings in The Christian Democrats increasedtheir influ- profits of $20 million ayear.ae enceby imposing wider powers for the RAI GeneralManager (alwaysa Christian Democrat) over thoseof the Chairman of the Board(always The Mondadori Takeover a Socialist).a6The newscastof RAI UNO was The New York Times has describedBerlusconi assignedexclusively to the Christian Democrats, as the William Paley of Europe,and a report on while the RAI DUE newscastwas a Socialist media concentration by the Twentieth Century monopoly. " Lottizzazione" (allotment or parcel- Fund had dubbedhim the "buccaneer" of televi- ling out of iobs),the practicewith which the sion . According to the The New York Times, in political parties divide up the spoils of the state, the spanof a few yearsthis 53-year-oldman of was extendedto include the Communists, who mild appearancebecame one of the richest men were given numerous positions at the third in Italy and one of the most politically influen- network, RAI TRE. As with administrators in tial, secondonly to Fiat's Gianni Agnelli. Last the civil service,state industries, and state- year Berlusconi,then consolidating his foothold owned banks, at RAI not only executivesbut in the broaderEuropean market, decidedto take also iournalists strictly reflect the political quota over Mondadori and with it La Repubblica. system. In a television interview, Craxi summed Mondadori had becomethe biggestpublishing up the "allotment" formula in what sounded company in Italy. Books,periodicals and newspa- like a telephonenumber-643l1l-but was persprovided a turnover of $1.75 billion and actually the ratio of posts to be assignedto revenuesof at least $100 milllion.so Christian Democrats, Socialists,Communists, Preciselybecause of its importance, the battle Republicans,Social Democrats and Liberals. f.orLa Repubblica inevitably becamea political The political parties reacted to the economic struggleand the most disastrousadventure for groups' assaulton the print pressby entrenching Berlusconi'scareer. When in December 1989he themselvesat RAI and by giving Berlusconi a announcedhe had conqueredMondadori, many free hand which helped him diversify his empire. things had aireadychanged in the Italian pnnt He createdone of the country's largest real estate press.The state-run industries that had been developmentsand a financial service and insur- dominant in the seventieshad withdrawn from ancebusiness with 2500 door-to-doorsalesmen, newspapers.The chemical giant Montedison had and he bought the Milan soccerteam. Today, been privatized and had been bought by the Berlusconioperates twenty-five percent of the Fervzzi group, which thus got control of I/ nation's movie theaters and is one of the largest Messaggero.Il Corriere della Sera ioined la producersof cinema films (seventya year) and Stampa in the Agnelli-Fiat orbit following television programming (180 hours ayearl.nT intricate negotiationswith the political parties. According to an article in The New York Times, It is worthwhile to review briefly how Agnelli "estimates differ on the size of this privately- conquered Il Coniere della Seru, becauseit is a owned empire but in 1987 consolidatedsales of paradigmof the close relations between press the roughly 150 companieswere equal to about and politics and businessin ltaly. After the P-2

10 The Media in Europe After 1992:A Case Study of La Repubblica debacle,a consortium headedby financier- Speakingto his youralists,Scalfari also stressed industrialist Carlo de Benedettitried to buy I/ his political and cultural affinities with De Corriere. But, according to Murialdi, the Social- Benedetti,an industrialistof liberal leanings. ist Party opposedthe sale on the grounds that it consideredDe Benedettitoo closeto the Com- munist Party.srSocialist leaderBettino Craxi The media world was taken by threateneda govemment crisis and his unofficial veto suspendedthe sale.AJter a few other surpfiseat Scalfari'sdecision to attempts,another consortium, headed by Gianni selL Thefounder of La Repubblica Agnelli, showed interest in I1 Corriere.The had beena strongprcponent of the consortium was dubbed"noble" becauseit had "prJre" the consensusof the Socialistsand Christran conceptof the publisher Democrats. The sale went through and it was an and had inventedthe figure of the excellent deal: the publishing company's worth editor-publisher. in 1987was calculatedat 800 billion lire ($616 million at the then-current exchangerate), ten times what the original consortium had paid. De Benedettiis 55, a sophisticatedman bom "we Agnelli said took part in the (Rizzoli- into a fewish family that sought refugein Swit- Corriere operation)to disinfect and purify" what zerland to escapethe Fascistsin World War Two. was once Italy's most prestigiouspaper.s2 His careerrose rapidly, beginning in his family's Agnelli's closestaide, Fiat General Manager small machine shop which he built up into a CesareRomiti, admitted that the operation had a prosperouscompany, then passingbriefly precisepolitical purpose:"we did it to comply through Fiat where he clashedwith Gianni with the urgings" of the political world and he Agnelli. He then took over Olivetti, rransform- addedthat nearly everyonewas putting pressure ing it from an ailing tlpewriter maker into a on Fiat, from Craxi to the Christian Democrats.s3 thriving computer conglomerate.De Benedetti's What guaranteesdid Agnelli give the politicians? other ventures have rangedfrom the Buitoni Agnelli has never supplied an answerbut many pasta company, which he then sold to Nestle, observershave said it is easy to make coniec- and shareholdingsin the Yves Saint-Laurent tures. fashion house.His one big failure was an at- By mid-I989,La Repubblicawasalso no tempt to take over Belgium's Socidt€Cenerale, longer the product of a "pure" publisher. In May one of the biggestconglomerates in Europe. of that year, L'Editoriale L'Espresso{scalfari and De Benedetti'spolitical views favor an alter- his partner Carlo Caracciolo, fifty percent native to the Christian Democrats in govern- owners of the newspaper)sold its sharesto ment. He has often said that he looks favorably Mondadori, whose malority shareholderwas to the Communist Party which "has made a Carlo de Benedetti.De Bendetti's primary clear choice for democratic socialism, it has activity was as financier and owner of the broken its ties with the past and has been able to Olivetti office machines conglomerate. changeits leaders,a unique event in Italy."ssHe The media world was taken by surpriseat arrived at Mondadori in I984 when the company Scalfari'sdecision to sell. The founder of.La was undergoingfinanciai difficulties following a Repubblica had been a strong proponent of the disastrousattempt to enter the commercial concept of the "pure" publisher and had in- television sector.With a seventeenpercent share vented the figure of the editor-publisher.Speak- of the company, he joined forceswith some of ing beforethe Foreign PressAssociation in the Mondadori heirs, Luca Formenton and his Rome, Scalfariiustified himself saying that the mother Cristina, who signed a contract to sell media free-for-all,due to the absenceof regula- De Benedettitheir twenty-five percent holding tions and the prospect of the internationalization by the end of |anuary 1991.He thus defeateda of the mass media in 1992when the European similar attempt by Silvio Berlusconi,who also Community will abolish trade barriers,necessi- had a minority sharein the publishing company tated huge capital investments to be able to and had allied himself with another heir, Luca's compete.He addeda personal consideration, cousin LeonardoMondadori. saying that he had no male heirs who could take The drama of this old publishing family, over the business.Gianpaolo Pansasays that divided and rancorous, forms the backdrop of the probably Scalfariand Caracciolo decidedto seil battle raging around Mondadori. In December becauseof the propitious market conditions.sa 1989,Luca Formenton and his mother switched

Sylvia Poggioli 1.1 sidesand allied thernselveswith Berlusconi, in the shapeof the hammer and sickle. L'Avanti deciding to sell him their sharesat a higher, carried an entire two-pagespread to prove/ as "was undisclosedprice. Luca accusedDe Benedettiof Craxi had saidpublicly, that Mondadori having kept him on the sidelinesand of trying to waging a campaignof hate and denigration link the publishingcompany too closelywith againstthe Party and its leaderwhose persis- the Communist Party.s5 tence,intensity and meticulousnesshas no Luca Formenton'saccusations were the same precedentin the history of Italian democracy." that had beenmade for months by the Socialists Craxi called on his party to mobilize.s8Senate and somesectors of the Christian Democrat Socialistleader Fabio Fabbri said that the battle "Repubblica-party" "primary Party. The conservativefaction of the Christian againstthe was a Democrats,headed by Giulio Andreotti, had political obiective"because it was necessaryto "democratic defeatedthe moderateswho had been running defend life from the devastating the Party and the government. Ciriaco de Mita, a effectsof an increasinglybroader manipulation liberalopenly distrustedby SocialistBettino of public life and abrazen adulteration of Craxi, was forced to step down as Prime Minister truth."se and Christian Democrat Party Secretary.The The then-deputy Prime Minister, Socialist "Scalfari's government returned under the helm of the Gianni de Michelis, accused party" "not "immortal" Andreotti {PrimeMinister for the only of trying to weaken the Socialistsbut sixth time in his career),who struck a solid alsoof trying to destabilizethe system."Giulio alliance with Craxi. Andreotti, whom Scalfariwelcomed as Prime In his editorials, Scalfarihad never been Minister with an editorial listing all the scandals tenderwith Craxi's brandof Socialism.He of his long career,Iashedout againstmedia accusedthe Party of not trying to introduce concentration. Speakingto a conferenceof young reforms and to work for an altemative political industrialists on the island of Capri in September coalition, but rather of seeking only more power 1989,the man known as the old fox of Italian and patronage.And cartoonist Forattini began politics recalledthe good old days and com- "industrialists drawing a broad-jawedCraxi in black boots, mented cryptically that was when recalling the arrogant stanceof Benito Mussolini, did not buy politicians, they rented them." a Socialist early in his political career.For their Andreotti said everything had changedand part, the Socialistsnever hid their aversion to la warned that the basic tenet of every democracy, Repubblica,which had escapedthe political universal suffrage,could be ieopardized.He "the parties'control.They accusedthe paperof singled out the sourceof this dangerin "irresponsibility" and of being pro-Communist. concentratedrelationship between industries The Socialist party organL'Avanti disdainfully and information media,"60although this is the "newspaper-party" dubbedthe daily a which sameperson who did not opposeFiat's acquisi- wanted "to leadthe democraticparties," with tion of majority control of.I1 Corriere della Sera. "witch-hunting journalists" who are "glued to a Fiat General ManagerCesare Romiti was "I rigid, totalitarian division of the world between quick to back up Andreotti's charges. confessI goodand evil." s7 agreedwith him becausehe was referring to those newspapersand those editors who want to condition political life to the point of wanting to ...the Socialistsnever hid be its external propellants."6r.11 Giorno, owned by the state oil company ENI and whose editor is their avercion to La Repubblica, a Socialist,identified "those newspapersand which had escapedthe publishers" as La Repubblica andDe Benedetti's p olitic aI p arties' control. Mondadori. In no western country has a newspa- per and a publishing group been the target of such violent criticism. Commenting on the When De Benedetti and Mondadori acquired virulent tone of the attacks, Dennis Redmont, total ownership of La Repubblica, the tone of longtime AP bureau chief in Rome, pointed out the attacks becamemore violent. The Christian that when PresidentKennedy was angry at The Democrat Party mouthpiece II Popolo referredto Washington Post, the most he would have been "sower Scalfari'spaper with only the words of able to do was cancelhis subscription.62The discord."The Catholic weekly 11Sabato, a vocal battle around La Repubblica must be seenas a supporterof Andreotti, carried a cartoon of De political strugglethat involved all the political Benedettiwith his face coveredwith pock marks parties and trade unions and endedup even

12 The Media in Europe After 1992:A Case Study of La Repubblica rousing popular emotions. to signaltheir displeasure.Their leader,the When Berlusconi wrested control of former prime minister Ciriaco De Mita, said Mondadori from De Benedettiat the end of 1989, publicly that his group did not feel bound to the "it the Socialistorgan L'Avanti exulted- was decisionsand backroomagreements reached by the end of a buccaneeringlobby, a parapolitical the government parties becausethe free flow of movement that tried to influence the country's "information concernsdemocracy." Later he politics." The Christian DemocratIl Popolo said,"Berlusconi's interests are not in society's expressedsatisfied relief-"as good Catholics we interests." It was an explicit threat to withdraw are always happy when in the face of certain his group from the parliamentary malority and threats, peacetriumphs within families and provoke a government crisis. At this point even editors return to the job of being editors without Andreotti beganto show signs of uncertainty, feeling the obligation of taking sidesfor one and his loyal party colleaguePomicino said of party or another." Cirino Pomicino, Budget Berlusconithat "one can die of elephantiasis. Minister and an Andreotti loyaiist, told reporters One can win but not excessively.//6s "it is inadmissible that a newspapertry to becomea political party." When a reporter asked him about freedom of the press,Pomicino This enormouspower in the replied smiling, "it is guaranteedby the great tradition of Italian journalism." information sectot was effectiv ely At La Repubblica, the reaction was total at the sevice of certainfactions of rejection of Berlusconi.In a front-pageeditorial, the ChristianDemocrats, and Scalfariannounced he was severingties with Mondadori: " La Repubblica cannot and doesnot especiallyof Craxi's Socialrsts. want to have any relationship with the new publisher at Mondadori." Numerous articles The debatesurrounding the Mondadori recalledBerlusconi's past membership in the P-2 takeover was not all out in the open for public secretmasonic lodge. De Benedettifought back consumption. Much of it took place in the secret at Berlusconi'sassault on Mondadori by legal corridors of power where solid pacts were often means.He demandedthat his agreementwith broken by swift shifts in alliances.The result Luca and Cristina Formenton be respectedand- was that the Communist opposition and the with seventeenpercent of the ordinary shares dissident groupswithin the government coali- and seventy percent of Mondadori blue chip tion succeededin acceleratingparliamentary stock-he tried to convene a specialstockholders debateon the long-dormant bill regulating the meeting to impose a capital increasethat would television sector and cross-ownershipin the have assuredhim an absolute majority of shares. media. The bill had been languishing for four- But for months, the courts turned down all his teen years,since the Constitutional Court had appeals. liberalized commercial television and the legisla- Berlusconi'stakeover of Mondadori and his tive vacuum had permitted Berlusconi'spower to increasedpower/ however, disrupted an unwrit- soar. ten rule that had always regulatedItalian politi- It was a bitter and polemical debatethat cal life and was the pillar of the Christian government "Never demonstratedthat the did not Democrats' long dominance: allow a control all its components.Several deputies of private individual or an economic group to the coalition parties broke ranks and voted becometoo strong vis-I-vis the political party alongsidethe Communists, passingan amend- system."a ment restricting the number of adsbroadcast According to the Republican (liberal| Party during a movie. This had been one of the most leader Giorgio La Malf.a, Berlusconi had control hotly contestedissues in which famous direc- of nearly the entire Italian commercial television tors, with FedericoFellini in the forefront, waged sector,eighteen percent of newspapercirculation an emotional campaigndenouncing the damage and thirty-three percent of the weekly mata- done when "an to their films aired on Berlusconi's zines. La Malfa said this is unacceptable networks, sliced up with dozensof commercial concentration."ft This enormous power in the breaks.The amendment was the first great information sector was effectively at the service setbackfor Berlusconiwho, one of his aidessaid, of certain factions of the Christian Democrats, would lose $300 million a year in lost revenues.66 and especiailyof Craxi's Socialists.The progres- The heated debatehad curious and unprec- sive factions of the Christian Democrats began edentedrepercussions in the country. For a large

Sylvia Poggioli 13 portion of the public Berlusconi soon came to As for RAI, the law sets a lower ceiling for personify a greedyNapoleon-like figure. When advertisingtime than for commercial networks his Milan soccerteam lost the national champi- (but higher than the previous ceiling) and pre- onship to the Napoli team, the peopleof Naples servedthe annual user's fee (about sixty dollars). let loose their proverbial senseof humor and The result is a virtual division of the airwaves ferociously lampooned him. A group of inventive spoils between RAI and the Berlusconi networks, Neapolitans even put on sale little packetsof with little room left for outsiders.The main Berlusconi's"tears" at ten dollars each. points of the law on crossownership are: The turmoil surrounding the Mondadori affair r No one can control more than three appearedto be feopardizingthe government national networks. coalition. On |une 13, Prime Minister Andreotti o Owners of three networks cannot control receivedDe Benedetti for a long meeting. In an newspapers. interview a few days later, De Benedetti de- . Owners of two networks can control up to scribedAndreotti as "one of the best and most eight percent of the national daily news- experiencedEuropean politicians" and he denied papermarket. reports that Andreotti is pro-Communist as . Owners of one network can control up to "inappropriate and untrue."57Coincidentally, on sixteen percent of the market. the same day,a fudgeruled that the Formenton- . Groups whose main businessesare outside Berlusconideal was not legal and the television the media sector can control up to twenty tycoon lost the post as Mondadori Chairman, percent of the daily market but cannot which he had held for six months. Berlusconr have any networks. appealedthe ruling, but his chancesof resuming o Groups specializingin the media, and control of.La Repubblica were definitely shat- deriving two-thirds of their revenuefrom tered by Parliament when it passedmedia it, are allowed to control up to twenty-five antitrust legislation. percent of the market. Advertising restrictions: o RAI's advertising ceiiing is set at twelve Thercsulting legislation was percent of air time or four percent of an ambiguous compromise, weekly programming. National commercial television stations' which de facto legitimized advertising ceiling is set at eighteen the status quo. percent of hourly programming and fifteen percent of daily programming. Local commercial stations' advertising Parlinnent Approves Media Regulations After ceiiing is set at twenty percent of hourly Fourteen Years programming and fifteen percent of daily By early August 1990 the bill finally became progtamming. law, but to ensure its passagethe government During movies, theatrical productions and had to resoft to severalconfidence motions to operas which last up to one hour fifty keep party discipline. It was not the law the minutes, there cannot be more than three "dissidents" would have liked but neither was it commercial breaks. the law Andreotti and Craxi had tried to impose. During movies, theatrical productions and The resulting legislation was an ambiguous operaswhich last more than one hour and compromise,which de facto legitimized the fifty minutes, there cannot be more than status quo. It regulatedthe amount of advertis- four commercial breaks. ing and set limits on cross-ownershipof news- There can be no commercial breaks during papersand television stations, but its effective children's caftoons. date was delayeduntil 1993,granting Berlusconi An advertising agency cannot provide time to air his huge stock of movies beforethe commercials for more than three national advertising restrictions become valid and time to networks. take advantageof continued lack of regulation in Advertising agenciesowned by television the television sector.Moreover, when the time networks (including RAI) are permitted to comes for licensing television stations, prefer- provide adsfor the print pressup to five encewill be given to those stations already percent of total advertising. broadcastingat the time the law was passed.

14 The Media in Ewope After L992:A Case Stady of la Repubblica Watchdog: control ninety-threepercent.To . Theparliamentary-appointedPress As Table 2 shows clearly, print pressand Watchdog'sresponsibility is extendedto television concentrationin Italy hasreached include the broadcastmedia and the very high levels.Many observerssay the degree Watchdog'sjuridical powersto ensure of concentration conflicts with EuropeanCom- implementationof the law arebroadened. munity directives and with the situations in other EC nations.In 1989,after drawn-out negotiations,the EC Commissionapproved a Adv ertising Concentr ation declaration that establishedprinciples for the The law was receivedwith widespreadcriti- television sector.Among other things, it said the cism. Berlusconiprotested against new restric- member states"must be vigiiant in preventing tions which would force him to sell the Milan actions that can jeopardizefree circulation and dally II Ciornale and give up all hopesof control- commerce of television programming and ling La Repubblica. Commenting on the new actions that favor the creation of dominant law, Scalfari,with his usual frank tone, wrote in positions that can restrict pluralism, television "the an editorial that ltaly, fifth industrial nation information and information in general."An- in the world hasbecome a bananarepublic." The other resolution, passedin April 1990called on presidentof the Association of Italian Newspa- the member statesto strengthenantitrust per PublishersGiovanni Giovannini said that regulations.Tr RAI and Berlusconi had "obtained everything they wanted." Giovannini criticized the absence "real" of what he called advertising restrictions, The new legislation completely especiallythe concessionto television advenis- ing agencies(specifically, RAI's SIPRAand ignoressatellite television ...and it Berlusconi'sPublitalia) to be able to provide ads doesnot rcgulate Pay-TV "The for the print press. limit of five percent of channels,three of which total advertisingis equal to all the adsin 11 Coniere della Sera and La Repubblica lumped Berlusconi ueated in the months together,or of the four maior weeklies, or of the after the law was passedand fifty regional and provincial newspapers,"he immediately put up sale. said.68The law essentially allows SIPRAand for Publitalia to broaden their area,expanding their financial influence and concentration in the The situation in other Europeancountries is publishing sector. very different from ltaly: in France,no individual The new legislation completely ignores or company can control more than twenty-five satellite television, which can sidestepthe new percent of the sharesof a television station. No restrictions, and it doesnot regulatePay-TV individual owning newspaperscontrolling up to channels,three of which Berlusconi createdin twenty percent of the market will receivea the months after the law was passedand imme- television license.ln the print press,no one can diately put up for saie. But the main problem is control more than thirty percent of the market. advertisingconcentration. With the economic In Germany, regulations are even more boom of the 1980s,Italian newspapersfounded specific and severe:the FederalCartel Office their own advertising companies.OnIy the small must approvemergers and salesof all publishing paperscontinued to rely on external agencies. companieswhose turnover is up to 25 million But newspapers(which in 1976received sixty- DM, which is roughly equal to a daily circula- four percent of all advertising revenues)are less tion of 40,000.The Cartel Office also intervenes and lessattractive to advertiserswho have when a mergerwould result in a twenty percent shifted en masseto television.6e shareof the daily market. It also deniesauthori- Today, accordingto the Chamber of Deputies zation when, in a specific geographicalregion, a report on information in Italy, SIPRAand merger would createa situation of dominance Publitalia handle nearly sixty percent of the either in the daily market or advertising.ln the advertisingmarket; another twenty to thirty television sector,there are two state-run and percent is handled by the advertisingagencies three commercial channels. No individual can owned by the major newspapers.The Commis- broadcast more than one national network, and sion report saysthat the top five agenciescontrol advertising cannot exceed thirty percent of daily eighty percent of the ad market and the top eight programming. Advertising also must be rigidly

Sylvia Poggioli 15 separatedfrom programs.Commercials must be giant groupswhich now control publishing and aired in blocks and cannot break into a program the media as an oligarchy, and Carlo Sorrentino lasting lessthan sixty minutes. State-runchan- has written that there has been a passagefrom "incomplete nels have a ceiling of twenty percent of daily iournalismto commissioned programming, and no advertising can be aired on iournalism.r'zs|ohn Wyles of.The Financial "publishing, Sundaysand holidays. Times has written that particularly In the United Kingdom, the 1973Fair Trading of newspapers,is regardedby all of Italy's leading Act establishedthat no individual can control businessbarons as a crucial key to social and newspaperswhose daily circulation exceeds political power, and thus to cementing the 500,000-very low for the UK-without authori- formidable economic advancesthey have made zation from the Secretaryof Commerce. (The during this decade."According to Wyles, the law was not retroactive, which explains the high baronsgrant considerablebut not total editorial degreeof pressconcentration in the UK.) In the freedom to their newspapers,and he addsthat "cling television sector,there is no advertising on the they to them as a kind of insurance two state-licensedBBC channels which are againstthe bad old days of the 1970swhen a lack funded by a user's fee. There are two commercial of assertionleft them prey to rampant trade channelslicensed by the IndependentBroadcast- unions, corrupt politicians and murderous ing Authority which air programscreated by terrorists."T6 external producers.If a newspaperpublishing Gianpaolo Pansadescribes the situation of company owns sharesin a television production Italian iournalism today as one in which there "off-limits." company, and the IBA considersthis contrary to are areasthat are This is one of the the public interest, the authority can, with the most immediate effectsof the conglomerates' consent of the Ministry of the Interior, suspend control of the press.Independent Leftist deputy programming provided by the production com- FrancoBassanini, an expert on the media, "to peny.'2 stressesthat the conglomerates'maingoal is have a leveragein dealing with the political world."77Italy'sbusiness elite would thus have Conclusions important allies not only in domestic issues,but, As can be seen,compared to some of its looking aheadto 1992,allies in controlling the Europeanpartners, the print pressand the inflow of new foreign capital and new entrepre- commercial media in Italy are concentratedin neurs. This strategy,however, has severalweak the hands of the tiny elite of leading business points. The major obstacleis the European and financial barons.The consent of the govern- Economic Community, since it is unlikely that ment parties made this concentration possible. the other member stateswill tolerate such a The result is what a report by the Parliamentary- degreeof concentration in the Italian media "power appointedPress Watchdog feared: of market which virtually closesit to newcomers information could be replacedby powers over whether Italian or foreign. information."T3Inltaly this is not a new situa- The EuropeanCommunity has becomethe tion, but in recent years it has been aggravated rallying point for Italian journalists and those by the fact that the key players in the country's political forceswanting to changethe situation. economic and financial life have become the SeveralMPs of the various parties have already mafor publishers.They make the news and can announcedthey will pressthe EuropeanParlia- control how the news is reported.They also have ment to passspecific antitrust regulationsthat such extensive control over advertising (eighty to would becomebinding for all member states, eighty-five percent of the entire market) that thereby sidesteppingthe Italian Parliament. As they have made it nearly impossible for anyone for iournalists, the broaderpowers gainedin the to start up a new newspaperor television station seventieshave beenwiped out by a weakened without their consent.The big economic groups' trade union. But increasingmedia concentration domination of the advertising market was not has stimulated bolder opposition. |ournalists at achievedonly through their advertising agencies Mondadori and at Rizzoli are currently negotiat- but also becausethey themselvesare the maior ing a new charter of rights for free information. advertisers.According to the Chamber of Depu- In the fall of i990, ioumalists at II Corriere ties'report, 2.6 percentof Italian advertisers stageda one-daystrike to presstheir demands.In provide 73.6 percent of annual investments in the sameperiod iournaiists at La Repubblica advertising.'a negotiateda company contract that gives them Gianpaolo Pansahas describedthe handful of the right to be consulted on major decisions

16 The Media in Europe After 1992:A Case Study of La Repubblica concerningthe newspaper,including the ap- destinedto increasethe "provincialism,,of the pointment of a new editor and onceagain after a Fiat empire.It is thereforelikely that Agnelli three-monthtrial period.The iournalistswere could usehis media to pressurethe government alsogranted their demandfor an ombudsmanat for a more protectionistpolicy in view of the the newspaperto supervisenews objectivity.The abolition of EC tradebarriers after 1992. post alreadyexisted at the Spanishpaper E/ Pals, The industrial and financialphilosophy of where the ombudsmangrades the newspaper's Gardini and De Benedettiis very differentsince articlesin a regularSunday column. both men areaccustomed to dealingin the Italian joumalists'battle for greaterindepen- internationalmarket. De Benedetti'sempire is dencewill not be easy.The iournalistsunion is basedon his internationalalliances, and he is the divided and mirrors the political rivalry within most stalwart theoreticianof the needfor an the ltalian Parliament.{Recently, union Secre- Italian market fully opento the outsideworld. tary CeneralGiuliana del Bufaloresigned her De Benedettihas a more independent,and often post in order to take up the newly createdjob of more polemical,relationship with the Italian deputy editor of the news program at RAI's political powers,and his media-artiuilarly La second-Socialist-network. ) The battle will Repubblicaand the newsweekly L'Espresso- also be difficult becausethe economic and clearly reflect his reformist and liberal outlook. financial elite that now controls the press Nevertheless,the areasof potential conflict appearsless willing to compromise than were between fournalists and publishersare many: the political partiesin the seventies. consumerprotection (no newspaperin recent The economicand financial oligarchy'shold months has written about the poor quality of over the print presshas createdproblems for Fiat products),environmental protection, labor iournalists not only in covering businessnews, disputes,and foreign policy-particularly con- but also more generally in covering the political ceming the Middle East,on which Italian indus- debatein the country. To fully understandhow tries' energyneeds are dependent.Another the Italian economic oligarchy can resrrict problem areathar has neverbeen fully investi- journalists it is worthwhile to review briefly the gatedis the Italian railway network, the least industrial and financial strategiesof the major developedin Westem Europe,sacrificed to a newsmaker-newsowners-Agnelli, Gardini and policy that favored roadsand transportation on De Benedetti. wheels-more costly and more damagingto the envrronment. The future, however, may producesome The economicand financial seriousthreats to the economic oligarchy that oligarchy'shold over the pfint controlsso much of the media.The maior two are satellite television and the local press. presshas ueated problemsfor Satellite television is difficult to control and iournalistsnot only in covering regulate.The new technology enablesbroadcast- businessnews, ers to beam programsacross national borders, but alsomore challenging monopolies and political-economic generallyin coveringthe political alliances.Satellite television could introduce debatein the countrv. new playersand broadenthe advertisingmar- ket-particularly once Europeantrade borders are openedup even only partially. Italy's new Agnelli's empire is basedin ltaly, and there- media antitrust law doesnot even mention fore its preeminent nature is national and is in satellite television, perhapsbecause the legisla- constant need of the support of the political tors were aware that regulation in this areais powers. In recent years,Agnelli succeededin impossibleat the national level alone.It is clear buying all the other ltalian auto companies- that Italy cannot begin jamming foreign broad- Alfa Romeo, Lancia and Ferrari-thanks to castsin the same way that for decadesthe Soviet assistancefrom the government, which blocked Union iammed Western radio programs. foreign competition (primarily |apanese As far as the local pressis concerned,it was automakers and the U.S. Ford Company, which nearly nonexistent until fifteen yearsago. It was interested in acquiring Alfa Romeo.)More- existed in a technical sense,but it ignored local over, the declining quality of Fiat products, problems and focusedexclusively on national which are unable to gain a foothold in the issues.Many observersof Italian affairs consid- broaderEuropean market and in the U.S., is ered this en unnatural paradox:in Italy-the

Sylvia Poggioli 17 country of the medieval city-states-citizens' dependson whether the local presssucceeds in passionsfor their local issuesand traditions is developingfurther and consolidating the new very intense, much stronger than their senseof patterns.One of the maior problems to be solved loyalty to the central state. When, following the is advertising.Nearly all the small new papers creationof La Repubblica'schain of small have tumed to the large advertising agencies papers,the pressdiscovered local issues,the (only six percent handles its own advertising). result was a hugesuccess. Dozens of profitable They have still to discoverwhat in every other newspaperswere createdand local and regional Westem country is the lifeline of the local papersnow representtwenty-five percentof press-local advertising.It will be a slow process overall daily circulation.TsToday, there are but probably inevitable as citizens gradually lose nearly forty papersin cities with populations their deep-rooteddiffidence towards newspapers under 250,000.The successof the local presswas and their contents. (Among Italians of the older "it's instrumental not only in greatly increasing generationone can still hear the expression circulation that had been stagnantfor yearsbut written in the newspaper"to indicate something also in discoveringa new reader.The Press completely off the mark.) If the local press Watchdogdescribes the new readershipas no succeedsin attracting local advertisers,creating longer part of an elite but belonging,for the first a new market of classifiedads that cannot be time in ltaly, to all sectorsof society.Te controlled by the large agencies,its indepen- Reviewing the development of the local denceand autonomy will be guaranteed.This press,the PressWatchdog voiced satisfaction and could result in another great revolution for the optimism for the future, saying it representsthe Italian press:a national presshighly concen- great antagonistto pressconcentration at the trated in the hands of a small oligarchy counter- national level and fulfills citizens'need and right balancedby a freer local press.The result could "The to information. local press," accordingto be another Italian anomaly: readersof newspa- "is the Watchdog, more pluralist, less conformist pers in Treviso, Perugiaor Foggiamay soon be and less infiltrated by the political parties than better informed than those in Milan, Turin or the national press"80and therefore can be consid- Rome where many issuesare increasingly off- ered"a factorin democraticgrowth."sr limits to the big national newspapers. However, the Watchdog warned, much

18 The Media in Europe After 1992:A Case Study of La Repubblica Table1.

COMPANY LEADER PRIMARY BUSINESS MEDIA HOLDINGS

Istituto Ciovanni Fiat automobiles, aero- La Stampa-Turin Finanziario Agnelli space/weapons, technology, Corrierc della Italiano department stores,insurance, Sera-Milan, {Fiat) banking, fuventus soccer Gazzetta dello team Sport-Milan, Fabbripublish- ing company

Compagnia Carlo Olivetti information La Repubblica- Finanziaria DeBenedetti technology,engineering, Rome, L'Espresso, De Benedetti financial services,automo- Panoruma, chain tive, insurance,real estate fourteen local papers

Feruzzi Raul Montedison Chemicals, Il Messaggerc- Gardini building, engineering, Rome, lfalia insurance,agribusiness Oggi-Milan

Fininvest Silvio Movie production, three Il Giornale- s.p.A. Berlusconi television networks, advertising,insurance, Milan, Sorrisi e financial services, CanzoniW- construction, department Milan stores,Miian soccerteam lSource:The New York Times.April 24, 1989l'

Sylvia Poggiob 19 Table2.

NETWORKS AUDIENCE DAILIES PERIODICAL ADS SHARE% %MARKET %MARKET %MARKET

Berlusconi 3 50 2.82 15 65 TELEVISION Fininvest 3l'6 TOTAL

RAI 348-}7.ZgTELEVISION 19 TOTAL

Agnelli 20 17 12 Fiat 22.58'

De Benedetti 13.51 t9 11-12 Mondadori

Gardini'* I l4OY"l I 5.65 5'4 Feruzzi

' In 1986,the parliamentary watchdog ruled that Fiat had exceededthe 2oo/olimit of total newspaper circulation allowed to any one group. . ' Gardini has a 9"/oshare of Glmina, the Fiat financial company that has maiority control of the Rizzoli publishing company.

(source:Press Watchdog's report to Parliament, Filst Semester1990)

20 The Media in Europe After 1992:A Case Study of La Repubblica Endnotes l. Pansa,Gianpaolo. L'Intilgo. Milano: Sperling& I7. Pansa,Cianpaolo. Comprati e Venduti. p. 199. KupferEditori, 1.990,p. 287. 18.Murialdi, Paolo.la StampaItaliana del 2. Camera dei Deputati. "II Sistemadell'Informazione dopoguerra1943- 1972. p. 373. in Italia" indagine conoscitiva deila Commissione Cultura (gennaiol988-gennaio1889) (Italian Chamber of Deputies Culture Committee Report on the 19.Quoted in Pansa,Cianpaolo. Comprati e Venduti. p. 182. Information System in Italy, fanuary 1988-fanuary 1989,2vol.)p.582, vol. l. 20. Pansa,Gianpaolo, interviewed by S. Poggioli. 3. "Italy: When Big BusinessShapes the News," Rome,August 28,1990. Columbia lournalism Review Jan-Feb1989. 2l . Pansa,Gianpaolo. Comprati e Venduti.p. 3 16. 4. EuropeanCommunity Commission Report on "Concentration in Publishing and Media in Italy" 22. Pansa,Gianpaolo. Comprati e Venduti.p. 317-18. fanuary1978.

23. Murialdi. Paolo.Stofia del giornalismo italiano. 5. Murialdi, Paolo.La Stampa ltaliana del dopoguetra p.212. 1943-1972.Bari'. Laterza, 1973,p. 374.

24. Aiello, Nello. Iezioni di giornalismo.p.222. 6. Murialdi, Paolo.La Stampa Italiana del dopoguerra 1943-1972.p.374. 25. Pansa,Gianpaolo. Comprati eVenduti. p. 184.

7. Aiello, Nello. lezioni di giornalismo.p. 126. 26.Pansa,Gianpaolo. Comprati eVenduti. p. 150.

8. Murialdi, Paolo.La Stampa ltaliana del dopoguerra 1943-1972.p.292-293. 27. Quoted in Pansa,Cianpaolo. Comprati e Venduti. p.345.

9. Aiello, Nello. lezjoni di giornalismo.p. 15. 28. Quoted in Pansa,Gianpaolo. Comprati e Vendutj. p.346. 10. Aiello, Nello. lezioni di giornalismo.p. 17.

29. Pansa,Gianpaolo. Comprati e Venduti.p. 341. I l. Aiello, Nello. lezjoni di giornalismo.p. 19.

30. Eugenio,Scalfari. Lecture on joumalism, Luiss 12. Aiello, Nello. lezioni di giornalismo.p. 134. University, Rome, May 1984.

13. Quoted in Aiello, Nello. tezjoni di giornalismo. 31. Aiello, Nello. lezjoni di giornalismo.p. 168. p. 135.

32. Aiello, "Fra Ottone e Scalfari" in Problemi "Informazione Nello. 14. From e liberta," quoted in European d eII' inf orm azio n e, Bolo gna: Il Mulino, Ottobre- "Concentration Community Commission Report on Dicembre 1984,p.573. in Publishing and Media in Italy," fanuary 1978.

33. Aiello, Nello. lezr'oni di giornalismo.p. L46. 15. Pansa,Gianpaolo. Comprati eVenduti. Milano: ValentinoBompiani 8r C. S.p.A.1977, p. 139. 34. Aiello, Nello. Iezioni di giornalismo.p. 167.

15. Quoted in Pansa,Gianpaolo. Comprati eVenduti. p.210. 35. Eugenio,Scalfari. Lecture on loumalism, Luiss University, Rome, May 1984.

Sylvia Poggioli 21 35. Agostino, Angelo and Sorrentini, Carlo. "I padroni 48. Solomon,Steven."A Media Empire MarchesEast." delle notizie" in ProbLemi delf informazione. Bologna: The New York Times,May 29, 1988. Il Mulino, December 1984,p. 5l I. 49."20th Century Fund Report on Concentration in 37. Aiello, Nello. lezjon i del giornalismo. Appendix A. the Media," New York. 1990,p.27.

"Il "The 38. Cameradei Deputati. Sistema 50. Wyles, fohn. Duel for the Soul of la dell'Informazionein ltalia," indagine conoscitiva della Repubblica,"The FinancialTimes, December 8, 1989. CommissioneCultura {gennaio1988-gennaio1889) (Italian Chamber of Deputies Culture Committee 51. Murialdi, Paolo."Decennio Concentrone," in Report on the Information System in ltaly, fanuary Problemi dell'informazione. Bologna,Il Mulino, 1988-fanuary1989,2 vol.) p.580, vol. l. |une 1990.p. 172.

39. Aiello, Nello. lezioni del giornalismo. p.202. 52. Prima Communicazione."Arriva il D.D.T. novembre,1990, cited in Friedman, Nan. Agnelli and 40. Camera dei Deputati. "Il Sistema the Network of Power,London. Mandarin, 1990 dell'Informazionein Italia," indagine conoscitiva della pp. 12G128. Commissione Cultura (gennaio198S-gennaio 1889) {ltalian Chamber of Deputies Culture Committee 53. Pansa,Gianpaolo. Cesare Romiti, Questi Anni alla Report on the Information System in ltaly, fanuary Fiat. Milano: Rizzoli, 1988,p. 34446. 198S-fanuary1989,2 vol.) p. 581,vol. l.

54. Pansa,Cianpaolo. L' Intrigo. p. 97. 41. Murialdi, Paolo."DecennioConcentrone," in Problemi delf informazione. Bologna:Il Mulino, )une 1990.p. 176. 55. Pansa,Gianpaolo. L'Intrigo. p. 128.

42. Solomon,Steven."A Media Empire Marches East." 56. Pansa,Gianpaolo. L'Intigo. p. 178. The New York Times, May 29, 1988.

57.Pansa, Gianpaolo. L'Intrigo.p. 122. 43. Camera dei Deputati. "Il Sistema dell'InJormazionein ltalra," indagine conoscitiva della Commissione Cultura (gennaio19S8-gennaio 1889) 58. Pansa,Gianpaolo. L'Intrigo. p. t13. (Italian Chamber of Deputies Culture Committee Report on the Information System in Italy, fanuary 59. Pansa,Gianpaolo. L'Intrigo. p. 120. 1988-fanuary1989,2 vol.) p. 579,vol. l.

60. Pansa,Gianpaolo. L'Intrigo. p. 149. 44. Cameradei Deputati. "Il Sistema dell'Informazione in ltaba," indagine conoscitiva della CommissioneCultura (gennaioI98S-gennaio1889) 61. Pansa,Gianpaolo. L'lntilgo. p. 150. (Italian Chamber of Deputies Culture Committee Repon on the lnformation System in ltaly, |anuary 1988-fanuary1989,2 vol.) p.579, vol. l. 62. Pansa,Gianpaolo. L'Intrigo. p. l15.

45. Murialdi, Paolo. "Decennio Concentrone," in 63. Pansa,Gianpaolo. L'Intrigo. p.227. Problemidelf informazione. Bologna:Il Mulino, fune p. I990. 176. 64. Pansa,Gianpaolo. L'Intrigo. p. 229.

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