Radio TV Digital Media

This paper analyses the impact of the digital transition on the television industry and market in Italy. A major concern for those interested in issues related to social cohesion and the impact of the digital transition on democratic practices is the fact that digital television platforms continue to produce a polarised market. Indeed, in Italy we are witnessing a shift from "duopoly, " a condition that has characterised the analogue television market, to "duality, " where quality TV content is migrating to pay-TV, leaving programming of lower quality on free-to-air channels. Given the fundamental function that television has played in shaping Italian democracy, the question is how this mutation from "duopoly" to "duality" will inform the evolution of democratic practices in the country. The study includes an investigation of media legislation, an analysis of the digital television market, and an exploration of the public broadcaster's struggle to maintain a relevant role in the digital environment. It concludes that the determination of the legislature to break down the duopoly is important, but that more government intervention will be necessary in order to ensure that quality free-to-air television becomes universally available.

This article examines how Italian commercial broadcast news on Mediaset's three terrestrial channels has covered the transition to digital terrestrial television. Mediaset is the largest commercial broadcaster in the country and is owned by former prime minister Silvio Berlusconi. By drawing on critical discourse analysis of broadcast news, it is argued that linguistic elements such as pronouns, choice of words, and metaphors, together with tendentious editing and framing of interviews, were part of a strategy of positive representation of the broadcaster's interests in the transition and negative representation of media policies opposing such interests. In particular, the analysis brings to the surface the ideological usage of interviews. Interviews in this case did not function as an act of control over the powerful, but as a way to illuminate the broadcaster's strategic interests while obfuscating the reasons behind attempts to regulate the transition to digital television and open the market to competition. The data attest that the way in which news programs covered the digital transition exposes the connections between media content, media ownership, and governmental institutions. Indeed, all three news programs, TG5, TG4, and Studio Aperto, despite their different target audience and the reputation of one of them (TG5) as the most objective and authoritative newscast on Italian commercial television, echoed each other in unified support of the sort of interests and media legislation that best fitted the corporation, especially at times when those interests were threatened. The corpus consists of 13 newscasts grouped in two clusters aired in 2006 and 2009. The main participants in the story were Mediaset's president, often interviewed as the 'expert' on the TV industry, the communications minister for the center-left Prodi government (in the 2006 cluster), and the communications undersecretary for the center-right Berlusconi government (in the 2009 cluster). Citizens and

In many western democracies, public service broadcasting institutions (PSB) have long been criticised, their legitimacy thwarted by technological, cultural and political developments. However, while the future might appear bleak to those who have a 'nostalgic vision' of PSB, more encouraging and 'forward-looking visions' are possible. As an example of 'forward-looking vision', this paper looks at the evolution of public broadcasting in Jamaica from the establishment of the Jamaica Broadcasting Corporation (JBC) in 1962, to its dismantlement in 1997, and to the formation of a new public broadcaster, the Jamaica Public Broadcasting Corporation (PBCJ), in Spring 2006. Throughout this history, and notwithstanding its many challenges, public service broadcasting continues to be a vital institution in Jamaican social, political and cultural life. Some of the questions that spur from this complex history are: In an era characterised by the everexpanding choice of media channels, while governments in wealthier countries are trying to get rid of their PSB, why is a new public broadcaster being re-established in the Caribbean island? What are its characteristics? Finally, could this attempt to recreate a public broadcaster in Jamaica be indicative of broader trends pointing to the necessity of preserving, or re-creating, public spaces in commercially saturated media environments? Although the lack of financial resources is a major challenge for the newly born PBCJ, efforts to re-build a public broadcaster speak to Jamaica's continuous desire to create a valuable alternative to commercial media. Attempts to create an efficient and socially relevant institution of public service broadcasting are discussed. 215 MCP 3 (3) 215-234

In many western democracies, public service broadcasting institutions (PSB) have long been criticised, their legitimacy thwarted by technological, cultural and political developments. However, while the future might appear bleak to those who have a 'nostalgic vision' of PSB, more encouraging and 'forward-looking visions' are possible. As an example of 'forward-looking vision', this paper looks at the evolution of public broadcasting in Jamaica from the establishment of the Jamaica Broadcasting Corporation (JBC) in 1962, to its dismantlement in 1997, and to the formation of a new public broadcaster, the Jamaica Public Broadcasting Corporation (PBCJ), in Spring 2006. Throughout this history, and notwithstanding its many challenges, public service broadcasting continues to be a vital institution in Jamaican social, political and cultural life. Some of the questions that spur from this complex history are: In an era characterised by the everexpanding choice of media channels, while governments in wealthier countries are trying to get rid of their PSB, why is a new public broadcaster being re-established in the Caribbean island? What are its characteristics? Finally, could this attempt to recreate a public broadcaster in Jamaica be indicative of broader trends pointing to the necessity of preserving, or re-creating, public spaces in commercially saturated media environments? Although the lack of financial resources is a major challenge for the newly born PBCJ, efforts to re-build a public broadcaster speak to Jamaica's continuous desire to create a valuable alternative to commercial media. Attempts to create an efficient and socially relevant institution of public service broadcasting are discussed. 215 MCP 3 (3) 215-234

In this article, I explore the emerging communication tactics that citizen committees and movements in L’Aquila, Italy, implemented during the Group of Eight (G8) summit in July 2009 – three months after a devastating earthquake left 80,000 residents homeless. I describe these tactics as 360-Degree Communication, an illuminating case study in citizen media and post-disaster political machinations. The focus is on how three main forms of communication (interpersonal, movements’ relationships with mainstream media, and citizens’ use of information and communication technologies) weaved together to support citizens’ needs to organize and claim a more active role in the rebuilding process. This article also questions dominant views according to which political and civic life in Italy’s south is based on a subservient relationship between power elites and residents, and that only rooted traditions of involvement with organized political parties and civil society can be a strong predictor of an active citizenry.

In light of the rise of ultra-right ideologies in Europe, this article offers an in-depth analysis of the discourse on immigration presented by CasaPound Italia (CPI), a self-defined fascist organization in Italy. This case study illustrates the importance of media and communication activism for the promotion of contemporary ultra-right movements. Specifically, the analysis focuses on how CPI reported one of the first widely covered immigration-related disaster in the Mediterranean, on 3 October 2013, and on the audience interactions that followed on the organisation’s website. In this article, I argue that CasaPound Italia’s online communiqué and its members’ comments need to be considered as one discursive event in which the encoding/decoding processes at play can be explored in detail. The examination, which draws from critical discourse studies, reveals audiences’ contributions in unpacking the implicit message contained in the original communiqué and underlines the active role ...