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5.5.2 Survey ResultsAn anonymous Italian journalist’scomments on the Italian mediaWhen you examine the Italian press, remember:• Italy should never be taken as operetta, even if you seeoperetta all over: the show is a cover and is an instrument<strong>of</strong> power.• Italy is in a way “very advanced” and creative. It alwayswas, for better or for worse. Where was fascism introducedfirst? Aren’t some other European media starting to imitateour model?•In Italy the copies/population rate is one <strong>of</strong> the lowest,because the quality <strong>of</strong> the papers is low, and it is low becausethe publishers use the papers as a political instrument (while,<strong>of</strong> course, they appreciate the pr<strong>of</strong>its).• One example <strong>of</strong> a “trick”: on the main story <strong>of</strong> the day wedo not publish one, two or three good articles, but three, four,ten full pages, sometimes even more than 20. Too muchinformation equals no information, and nobody can accuseyou <strong>of</strong> not covering the facts.• Another peculiarity: the editors-in-chief <strong>of</strong> competingpapers exchange a lot <strong>of</strong> tips on the phone and fix the layoutonly after the evening news on television: the “news” isthe news on the screens <strong>of</strong> the different chains, controlledmore or less by the same people.• Again about the news sources: did you notice that todaythe world has only one real news agency, Reuters, and thatwhen Reuters became hegemonic it moved the headquartersto the US?• Italians who want or need to understand the world read foreignpapers (<strong>The</strong> Economist, for example, has a very high circulation,considering that not so many Italians read English).148 THE IMPACT OF MEDIA CONCENTRATION ON PROFESSIONAL JOURNALISM
• <strong>The</strong> Italian society has been mentally levelled by themedia, and prepared to accept the next political new thing.• Unfortunately, the foreign correspondents (with rareexceptions) base their coverage on what they find in theItalian press. <strong>The</strong>y relate the show and seem not to understandwhat is going on. <strong>The</strong>y focus on the Berlusconi/anti-Berlusconi brawl, which is simply one <strong>of</strong> the best numbers<strong>of</strong> the show, useful to distract the attention from the realactors, transversal to this apparent divide.<strong>The</strong> unknown Journalist is right: don’t take Italy for a never endingoperetta. It is a serious plot being played out betweenBolzano in the north and Palermo in the south. <strong>The</strong> price is notonly freedom <strong>of</strong> the media, media pluralism and content diversity.At stake is Italian democracy as such.With so much being at stake, one would have thought Italianjournalists would take the opportunity <strong>of</strong> this survey to voicetheir deep concerns. This has not happened. Possibly because <strong>of</strong>language problems, more likely, however, because <strong>of</strong> a very selfcentredculture, only a few Italian journalists responded to thissurvey. During a series <strong>of</strong> personally conducted interviews journalists,however, mentioned their hesitation to answer in anyother way but face to face because <strong>of</strong> their suspicion that theirconversations as well as their internet communications might beintercepted by either their employer or State institutions.<strong>The</strong> refusal <strong>of</strong> the absolute majority <strong>of</strong> journalists met t<strong>of</strong>ill in any questionnaire made quantified results impossible.Since the centre-right coalition <strong>of</strong> media tycoon turnedpolitician Mr. Silvio Berlusconi won the general elections in May2001, domestic Italian and international debate has focusedmainly on the conflict <strong>of</strong> interests Mr. Berlusconi has not beenable to and/or not been willing to solve. As Entrepreneur heholds Italy’s three main private TV channels in his personalCOUNTRY REPORTS – ITALY 149
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REPRESENTATIVE ON FREEDOM OF THE ME
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ContentsPrefaceby Freimut Duve 9Int
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6. Conclusions 187AnnexQuestionnair
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advertisement is very insecure, mak
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industrial lobbying groups still di
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1. The Imp
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sidents” had been imprisoned. “
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determined Freedom of</stro
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co-operate fully with the OSCE Repr
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Such independence, however, comes a
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and mirror of the
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30 million rely exclusively on info
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Unchecked, concentration will reduc
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protected, a certain level
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indication of the
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time, as the concept of</st
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It appears, however, that this posi
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1.7 New Threats on the Horizon1.7.1
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owns or controls not only the three
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Target countries sometimes interpre
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independence proposed by the OSCE R
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groups to grow. And there is the in
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areas of Central a
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Directly or indirectly Mr. Silvio B
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Yet this simple notion appears to b
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newspaper firms. Using the argument
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a contribution to democratization a
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tation of this for
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This limitation in no way indicates
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press is ridiculous. Journalists co
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But these progressive aspects <stro
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Nevertheless, the loss of</
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may well be true for journalists fr
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Is there a works council at your ne
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will go to television, this being t
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Economic revenue (%) Fig. 61234510,
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Good relations with the business co
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Further, how can a newspaper, whose
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Service for civil society (%) Fig.
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The Norwegian medi
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Have you ever been put under pressu
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Do you feel threatened in your posi
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4. Number of Title
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5. Country Reports5.1 Germany5.1.1
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Süddeutsche Zeitung (463,000), Lei
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Page 99 and 100: A three directional strategy is wha
Page 101 and 102: 5.1.2 Survey ResultsBacked by tradi
Page 103 and 104: Cross-ownership has also increased
Page 105 and 106: Economic revenue (%) Fig. 61234515,
Page 107 and 108: Service for civil society (%) Fig.
Page 109 and 110: Understandably all German journalis
Page 111 and 112: Do you feel threatened in your posi
Page 113 and 114: As also seen in Germany, the data p
Page 115 and 116: 5.2.2 Survey ResultsFinland compete
Page 117 and 118: Newspaper chains were the logical r
Page 119 and 120: 5.3 United Kingdom5.3.1 Country Rep
Page 121 and 122: • Daily Mail and General Trust: D
Page 123 and 124: Is there a works council at your ne
Page 125 and 126: Economic revenue (%) Fig. 61234510,
Page 127 and 128: Service for civil society (%) Fig.
Page 129 and 130: Do you feel free to voice and write
Page 131: Do you feel threatened in your posi
Page 134 and 135: Newspaper reach (%)All Adults 30.1M
Page 136 and 137: As regards ownership concentration,
Page 138 and 139: Financial BackgroundDespite the pre
Page 140 and 141: 5.4.2 Survey resultsIf Finnish jour
Page 142 and 143: of those mini-comp
Page 144 and 145: for example, is very clear on this
Page 150 and 151: portfolio. In addition, as democrat
Page 152 and 153: Mr. Berlusconi’s TV advertisement
Page 154 and 155: 5.6 Lithuania5.6.1 Country ReportCa
Page 156 and 157: is quite remarkable. The</s
Page 158 and 159: Lithuania is a small country with a
Page 160 and 161: Another tendency is that newspapers
Page 162 and 163: Only in 2003, the daily newspaper L
Page 166 and 167: October 22 2003 was an historic dat
Page 168 and 169: 5.7.2 Survey ResultsSince the end <
Page 170 and 171: y a mostly anonymous to the general
Page 172 and 173: On a daily, practical basis there
Page 174 and 175: Newspaper reach (%)All Adults 15Sou
Page 176 and 177: so-called “human interest” stor
Page 178 and 179: indicated that Rodipet applies a di
Page 180 and 181: 5.8.2 Survey ResultsAlthough a smal
Page 182 and 183: 12345Objectivity (%) Fig. 57,114,32
Page 184 and 185: Strengthening of d
Page 186 and 187: Do you feel threatened in your posi
Page 188 and 189: emerging CEE countries with regard
Page 190 and 191: - Create in all OSCE participating
Page 193 and 194: Organization for Security and Co-op
Page 195 and 196: 1. In which country are you working
Page 197 and 198: 17. Who defines the editorial line
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29. How would you describe the situ
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- This common code of</stro
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Personal and business interestsIt i
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Orkla Media’s
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www.osce.org/fomJohannes von Dohnan
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