Eurispes – CoRiS Sapienza Television News Observatory. On the news the sound of shutters being lowered: Italy closes at 6 p.m.
Record contagions, Italy “closes at 6pm”. Government: prime time breathes air of reshuffle. Tg4 megaphone of protest over restrictions. Terrorism in Nice, Lamorgese-Salvini clash
With the shutdowns imposed by the new Dpcm, the week of prime time debuts for all channels with the sound of the shutters being lowered. In a picture dominated by the chilling increase in the number of contagions, which on Friday exceeded the ceiling of 31,000 new cases, the evening news programmes seem to be “fumbling” behind increasingly disturbing numbers. What follows is a narrative that in the reports focuses on the different fronts of the ongoing battle, allowing what the bare figures cannot represent to be translated into images. The interest of the Mediaset news thus focuses on the difficulties of small and medium-sized entrepreneurs; those of Rai, on the other hand, dedicate ample space to the management of the contagion in hospital wards. As in the previous week, speeches by scientists and commentators abound, alternating with the many interventions by ministers and opposition representatives. The ratings are also on the rise, stable above 19 million, against an average of 16.5 million viewers on the same days in 2019. The analysis of the Eurispes – CoRiS Sapienza Television News Observatory in the week from 26 to 30 October
Against a political backdrop of growing tensions, anything but dampened by appeals for moderation, the expectation of a possible “new phase” also emerges in the editions, with Tg La7 and Tg4 already featuring in their headlines on Tuesday the interviews by Zingaretti with La Repubblica and by Berlusconi with il Giornale (commented on in TV studio by Feltri), with the Forza Italia leader calling for a “new phase of collaboration”, but “not with this government set-up”. The wait for a change in the executive is reinforced by the declarations of PD Senator Marcucci, which make their way into the headlines of four TV channels on Thursday (Tg3, Tg5, TgLa7 and Tg2), while the Rai flagship deflates the matter with an interview with Di Maio. Meanwhile, Tg4’s attacks on Minister Azzolina continue, accompanied by criticism of Infrastructure and Transport Minister Paola De Micheli, labelled “the new Toninelli”.
The protest demonstrations in various parts of Italy receive, by all accounts, adequate attention, with the Mediaset newspapers giving greater prominence to the discontent of the many damaged categories. Tg4 becomes the active voice of these demands, relaunching the positions of the parties involved – artists, restaurant owners, sports facility managers – and denouncing, as early as Monday, the limits of the new measures, which do little to mitigate the overcrowding of transport. The Mediaset news channels are the most critical of the “Ristori” decree measures, with Tg4 consulting both Landini and Confindustria. Overall, total condemnation of violence prevails. Well done Studio Aperto, which on Thursday denounces the behaviour on social networks of some young criminals who brag about taking part in the looting of shops in Turin.
Nice carnage, Tg2 interviews Lamorgese. Silence on “pacified” Libya. Europe, hotbed of the Planet
The carnage in the Nice cathedral on Thursday at the hands of Islamist terrorism is at the forefront of all the headlines, with a double headline for Rai and La7 news. The fact that the attacker, a 22-year-old Tunisian man, had arrived in Europe via Lampedusa, brought the issue of security back to the centre of the debate for (only) one day, with the long-distance clash between Minister Lamorgese (interviewed on Friday by Tg2) and Salvini, who called for her resignation. No headline, however, takes the opportunity to talk about the trend, or the new scenarios concerning Libya a week after the declaration of a “ceasefire”. Studio Aperto gives space to the Mayor of Mazara del Vallo’s appeals for the 18 fishermen kidnapped by Haftar.
The foreign page is also dominated by Covid’s figures, with Europe becoming the planet’s main hotbed. Headlines for all, between Wednesday and Thursday, concerning the situation in France, which has almost gone back into lockdown since Wednesday, and comes to “steal the show” from the countdown to the 2020 presidential elections (which only featured in 3 headlines this week).
