Media and Politics in Contemporary Italy: From Berlusconi to Grillo [Hardcover]

Media and Politics in Contemporary Italy is the first book to provide a comprehensive examination of the media system in Italy during the last twenty years. Seeing the rise of new political actors and the growing role of the Internet and social media, the general elections of February 2013 have symbolically closed a twenty-year period of Italian history dominated by Silvio Berlusconi politically and by television as channel of political communication. The analysis focuses on change and continuity with past media structures, cultures and practices, and considers the Berlusconi factor, namely the impact of one man on the countrys media system, journalism, and political communication.Alessandro DArma is senior lecturer at the University of Westminster.

This is a comprehensive and concise analysis of the most important developments in Italian media and politics over the last twenty years. D'Arma effectively combines key insights from media research, political science, and historical research to capture both where the Italian situation is truly exceptional and where it is more broadly indicative of the changing relations between old media platforms, new digital technologies, and the deeply rooted political, economic, and cultural factors that shape how they develop. A welcome contribution to our understanding of Italyand of media and politics more broadly. Rasmus Kleis Nielsen, Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism

Alessandro DArmas book on the complex interdependent relationship between media and politics in the Italian Second Republic shows an author in total command of his subject matter. DArma expertly analyses several key themes in contemporary Italian political communication, from the interventionist excesses of the Berlusconi years to Beppe Grillos skillful exploitation of social media for electoral purposes. Written in an engaging and lucid style, DArmas book is a very welcome addition to the literature on politics and media in lealƒ,