News headlines focus on Italy in the red zone. The report of the Eurispes-CoRiS Sapienza Television News Observatory
Tight on Covid, Italy in red zone. Mediaset focuses on the Conte-Renzi “clash”. Freed sailors: politics huddles, information celebrates.
TV news from 14 to 18 of December – The wait for the tightening of travel restrictions during the Christmas holidays, announced in extremis on Friday evening, was the main theme of the prime time editions, collecting as many as 21 openings between Monday and Friday. In speculating on certain dates and rules, the news bulletins documented the new developments from day to day, reporting on the pleas of the regional presidents (Zaia, De Luca, Zingaretti), this time univocal in pointing out the need for a strict clampdown. Much space on Mediaset was given to the voices of entrepreneurs, with Tg4 dedicating a headline on Tuesday to the marked spread of poverty generated by the epidemic (also on the agenda for Tg3). Also on Tuesday, prime time welcomes the date of December 27 for a European Vaccine Day, with opening for Tg3 and Studio Aperto.
The political page is dominated by the internal clash within the majority party that drags on throughout the week, obtaining several openings from the Mediaset news. The activism of Tg5 is decisive, which, on Tuesday, dedicates its cover to an interview with Matteo Renzi (taken up in part in the reports of the other Mediaset stations in the following evenings), and then, on Friday, gathers the opinion of several commentators on the requests made by the leader of Italia Viva (on the health Mes, cybersecurity, etc.), and their potential impact on the fate of the Executive. Many commentators also on Tg4, which appears “amused” to talk about the various “slaps at the government”.
Still on politics, space is given to the tussle over the amendment of the security decrees. Once again, unfortunately, the reports focus on the clashes and accusations launched by the opposing factions, while there is no mention of data or figures concerning the migration phenomenon, the situation in the countries of departure or the fight against human traffickers.
Free the Mazara del Vallo seamen. Sansonetti on Tg4: “I don’t understand what there is to fight about”. Tg La7 criticises “scheming Salvini”
The release of the sailors from Mazara del Vallo, who had remained in Libya for 108 days hostage to Haftar’s forces, arrived on Thursday afternoon like a thunderbolt, disrupting the various editions: openings for Tg1, Tg3, Tg5 and Studio Aperto, with the Rai flagship interviewing a satisfied Minister Di Maio live on air. There was a great deal of space in the reports on the joy of the relatives, whose continuous mobilisation, for various newspapers, was the essential element in bringing this affair to the attention of public opinion and the authorities.
In the past months, Tg4 had been the most attentive to this affair, even receiving some of our compliments for it. But on Thursday, not being able to recognise this “success” for the government, the Mediaset News channel postponed the day’s polemics to the news, and then emphasised in its reports the accusation made by the opposition to the government of wanting to “take credit” for a success of our intelligence. Thus another small short-circuit takes place, when the director of Riformista, Piero Sansonetti, declares that he does not understand the reasons for this umpteenth clash, and that he is more interested in the negotiations that led to this result. Mentana is also of the same opinion, tackling the news in his programme from a broader perspective, wondering whether and to what extent the Italian Prime Minister’s visit to Benghazi – the first of its kind – was really necessary, and whether Haftar asked for and obtained from our government something more than the endorsement inherent in the meeting itself.
The formalisation of Joe Biden’s presidency is reported without much fanfare by Wednesday’s news, with headlines for Tg5 and Tg La7. The Tg Mediaset, Tg2 and Tg La7 bulletins keep a high profile on the affair involving Ranieri Guerra, Vice-President of the European section of the WHO, who ended up at the centre of the diplomatic case on the “Missing Report” criticising Italy’s handling of the pandemic.
In conclusion, Mentana’s attention towards forms of political communication based on disinformation should be noted. On Wednesday, this led him to hold forth on Salvini’s statements, explicitly criticising the leader of the Lega for having relaunched in the Senate the thesis of a virus produced in a Wuhan laboratory, a fake news very dear to Trumpian rhetoric, and the basis of numerous conspiracy theories.