Report Eurispes-CoRiS Sapienza Television News Observatory. Contagions, the newscasts waiting for the turning point. Berlusconi and Calabrian health first on the political page

Contagions, newscasts waiting for the turning point. Budget law, Berlusconi claims the stage. The “tragicomedy” of Calabrian health. On Tg3 the prosecutor Gratteri: “A horse cure is needed”.

The news from 16 to 20 of November – With an average of 35,000 positives a day and the peak of 753 victims reached on Wednesday, the prime time editions relaunch the daily infection bulletins while waiting for an announced turning point. While other regions move into the red or orange zone, what stands out on the openings are the changes “for the better”, such as the drop in hospitalisations or the reduction in the rate of positivity of swabs, with the trend of contagions in “stable slowdown”. In this scenario, testimonies of the population’s resilience are growing, with Tg3 visiting a number of intensive care units, while the Mediaset Tg4 addresses the problem of distance learning, giving space to the “battle” organised in favour of a school in attendance, by a 12-year-old girl from Turin. If all the networks try to look at the “glass half full”, on Thursday, Enrico Mentana returns to the high number of deaths, exploring the factors that make Italy the European country with the most victims in this second wave.

While Covid dominates the openings, it is politics that is the most recurring topic in the headlines (28% vs. 22% for interior-themed news). The political page is divided between the debate on the budget variance, in the headlines since Monday, and the “Calabrian Odyssey”. On the first front, Berlusconi’s opening with Forza Italia about to vote in favour of the forthcoming manoeuvre, even though he is not in the majority, stands out: 12 mentions in the headlines, with the usual line-ups and distinctions emerging. If all the news channels report Zingaretti’s openings and the distrust of the 5 Stelle, it is (paradoxically) the Tg4 itself, through the mouth of the columnist Sansonetti, that presents Berlusconi’s move in terms of “rupture” in relation to the positions of Salvini and Meloni.

Regarding Calabria, the resignation of Eugenio Gaudio as health commissioner, just one day after his appointment, caused great dismay, with Tg4 speaking of “Tradicomedy”. The former rector of the Sapienza University ends up, unintentionally, gaining greater media visibility than the President of the Regional Council, Domenico Tallini, who has been under house arrest since Thursday on charges of external complicity with the ‘Ndrangheta: 13 citations against 6. Adequate coverage for all, with Tg3 offering a double feature with a recent interview with Tallini himself, followed by one with Nicola Gratteri of the Catanzaro Public Prosecutor’s Office, who speaks of the need for drastic measures for the Calabrian healthcare system. On Friday, Mario Orfeo’s headline also deals with the scenarios on which Gino Strada will have to operate, explaining how Emergency has been active in the region since 2013 and pointing the finger at the 18 disused hospitals in the region, which are not even partly reactivated.

Attention was also paid to Campania, with reports by Tg2 and the Mediaset channels on the situation in Naples and the good practices implemented by its citizens to meet the health needs of the underprivileged. Sangiuliano’s headline concentrated its polemic vis on De Luca, defining, on Monday, his clashes with De Magistris «Hyperboles of ego in prime time».

Brussels, the Hungarian stalemate. Migrants, on Tg3 the testimony of Yusuf’s mother

There is little space for foreign affairs, which are absent from the openings and occupy little more than 1/8 of the headlines. The stalemate in Brussels over funds for the Recovery Plan due to the veto of Hungary, Poland and Slovenia is very present, but in the absence, in the reports, of any particular analysis or in-depth analysis. Wednesday’s Tg2 interview with Paolo Gentiloni was good.

In a week in which the subject of landings is absent from the headlines, Tg3 contributes to keeping the attention high with a touching interview with Adja, a migrant rescued by Open Arms after a shipwreck, and made, in spite of herself, famous for her heartbreaking appeals for the safety of her son, who died of hypothermia. Space is also given to happier stories, with the earned freedom of a group of Yazidi female athletes who, having escaped the Isis that wanted them as slaves, now play in the Iraqi women’s national team.

Tg5 reports how the murderer of Soumaila Sacko, the Malian trade unionist killed two years ago in the Vibo Valentia area, 6 days after being sentenced for voluntary murder, is already under house arrest. The spotlight is also on the story of the fishermen from Mazara who are stranded in Libya, a front on which there are weak advances in view of their release.

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