Media Logic and Party Logic in Campaign Coverage: The Italian General Election of 1983

Abstract

This article gives an account of the first attempt in Italy to investigate the behaviour of the mass media in an election campaign, from the perspectives of both information and propaganda. Starting from the observation of major changes in the Italian political scene, such as the secularization of politics, the crisis of the mass party and the increased commercialization of broadcasting, it was hypothesized that the media, traditionally subordinate to the party influence, would experience some emancipation. This was expected to appear in the following forms: a preponderance of `media logic' over `party logic'; a greater independence of journalists; a tendency for media to set the agenda of the election debate. Despite some contradictory evidence, the findings confirm some tendencies in the predicted direction.