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portfolio. In addition, as democratically elected Prime Minister,he holds sway over Italy’s three public service TV broadcastingchannels. Adding Mr. Berlusconi’s stakes in advertising,newspapers, news magazines, book publishing, video andDVD renting chains, cinemas, theatre, insurance, supermarketchains and so on, it becomes immediately obvious that theItalian democracy is living an experience that no other Westerndemocracy has ever had to tackle.Yet, Italian media concentration did not start with Mr.Berlusconi nor has he had, at least in the daily newspaper sector,any major responsibility for critical concentration movements.<strong>The</strong> country’s main newspapers have long been in thehands, not <strong>of</strong> publishers in the classical sense, but Italy’s majorindustrial groups, who have at times been openly hostile toMr. Berlusconi’s political ambitions.Even though Italy has daily newspapers with long-standingtraditions like the Milanese based Corriere della Sera, no realnewspaper culture comparable to Northern European countrieshas ever taken root. Political unification in 1871 didn’tcreate a culturally and linguistically unified nation. At that timeonly 20 per cent <strong>of</strong> the Italian populace spoke the dialect <strong>of</strong>Tuscany, which today is considered to be the purest spokenItalian. Illiteracy was rampant until after World War II. Afterthe tragic experiences with fascism Italy was politically dividedlike no other Western European nation.Part <strong>of</strong> this ideological divide was the conviction <strong>of</strong> left wingpeople that quality dailies belonged to the “cultural conservativeelites’’. Most other papers were – and are – politically openly affiliatedto political parties and/or ideologically driven groups.Taking into account that 1961 was the first year in the history<strong>of</strong> unified Italy when government allocated more moneyto education then to the military, modern Italy owes its cultural150 THE IMPACT OF MEDIA CONCENTRATION ON PROFESSIONAL JOURNALISM
unification not so much to books, museums or theatre but topopular music – and television. 30 per cent <strong>of</strong> the 56 millionItalians use television as their exclusive source <strong>of</strong> information.Only 3.5 million Italians are daily readers <strong>of</strong> newspapers. Andthe biggest daily newspaper in terms <strong>of</strong> printed and sold copiesis a sports paper.As a consequence <strong>of</strong> the importance <strong>of</strong> quality newspapers,mainly to the political, cultural and economic elites, Italianjournalists have always considered themselves as part <strong>of</strong> aspecial caste. To this day, the pr<strong>of</strong>ession protects itself by rigorouslyenforced entry barriers such as written and oral entryexams. Being a member <strong>of</strong> the “ordine dei giornalisti” comeswith a number <strong>of</strong> privileges. Fully employed journalists are notheard <strong>of</strong> as being fired, not even in cases where serious pr<strong>of</strong>essionalmistakes have been made.This closed system allowed Italian pr<strong>of</strong>essional journalistsnot to have to suffer the consequences <strong>of</strong> concentration. Duringthe 1980s quality papers like La Repubblica started to buyheavily into ailing regional dailies. Chain newspapers withregional or local inserts developed with almost no reduction ineditorial staff.Those who suffered most from this closed system werefreelancing journalists. <strong>The</strong>ir financial and pr<strong>of</strong>essional exploitationby publishers and editors-in-chief is legend. By the end <strong>of</strong>the 1990s the payment <strong>of</strong> 50.000 Italian lire or roughly US$ 25per article was considered as standard rate at provincial dailynewspapers.Even though Mr. Berlusconi has no responsibility for thepast, his influence on Italian journalism today has to be seen asdramatic. Since the liberalization <strong>of</strong> the electronic media marketsome 20 years ago, newspapers have continued to loseadvertisement revenue to this prime source <strong>of</strong> information.COUNTRY REPORTS – ITALY 151
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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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publisher, the Axel Springer Verlag
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 148 and 149: 5.5.2 Survey ResultsAn anonymous It
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
Page 199 and 200: 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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