The ‘Draghi’s pax’ takes over the news, but the pandemic returns to the headlines
Tg Eurispes – CoRiS Sapienza Observatory. The News from 15 to 19 February – The start of the Draghi government, now in full swing, dominates the media agenda, with the editions of Wednesday and Thursday monopolised by the votes of confidence in the Senate and the House. In the climate of optimism that accompanies the new Prime Minister’s first statements, the Mediaset TV news emphasised the passages devoted to companies and businesses, highlighting Berlusconi’s satisfaction, while the RAI and La7 news emphasised the announcements of a renewed battle against the mafia and corruption. Even the fierce protest of the mountain centre shopkeepers, which had been very high in Monday’s editions (openings for Tg5 and Tg La7, with commentary by Mentana), was contained in the following days, in an atmosphere of renewed appeasement. Tg4, on Friday, opened up about the new rift in the 5 Star Movement (about forty members of parliament were expelled for not having voted for a vote of confidence), talking about a movement that is now “in the dust”.
The Mediaset and Tg2 news also gave Matteo Salvini an earful of the “Draghi’s pax”, as on Tuesday he had spoken of the Euro as a “not irreversible process”, a statement that Tg4 reduced to a simple “provocation”, in a scenario in which the League was “burying the hatchet”. Salvini’s ambiguous words were, however, taken seriously (and criticised) by Tg3 and Tg La7, and on Wednesday both Tg4 and the 8 p.m. news picked up on the neo-premier’s indirect response at the start: “The Euro is an irreversible process”.
The Mediaset Tg contributes to the constructive climate by indicating the agenda of emergencies. Tg5, Thursday, dedicates the opening to the many tables left open by the government Conte, recalling the main corporate crises of the Country: Whirpool, Alitalia and, above all, the former Ilva Taranto, subject in the week of 3 headlines. Friday’s Tg4 coverage of the country’s major unfinished projects was also good.
With the political scenario momentarily calmer, the trend of the epidemic rises up the ranks and is the main topic at the opening of the Monday and Friday editions: 15 openings in total. Exactly one year after the first signs in Codogno, maximum attention is paid to the indices and the spread of variants, while the number of victims exceeds 95,000. Coverage for all on the enquiries concerning the maxi orders on masks. Attention for Tg La7 to the opening of investigations into the parallel market of vaccines. Tg2 intervenes in the debate at the beginning of the week by advocating the use of “surgical” red zones, rather than more stringent measures proposed by some virologists. The attacks on social media to life senator Liliana Segre, following the invitations made to the elderly after being vaccinated, are the subject of dismay and reprimand for La7 and Tg Rai, with Tg2 that Friday devotes a title.
In conclusion, some reports:
- The tenth anniversary of the beginning of the war in Libya finds space on the RAI news, with a headline for Tg2 and good reconstruction for Tg3. None of the newspapers, however, took the opportunity to talk about immigration.
- On Wednesday, Tg3 dedicated a headline to one of the first convictions in Italy for the crime of torture, issued against 10 prison officers for the beating of a prisoner in 2018.
- The acquittal of the athlete Alex Schwazer from the doping charges that had precluded him from participating in the Olympic events, was greeted with explicit satisfaction by all the newspapers, with 5 headlines and ample space also on Tg la7.