Media Criticism

I am starting a series this week about issues in foreign media that departs drastically from my regular dispatches on the 2008 election. The first part of this series is connected to a recent article in Monocle that discussed RAI in Italy. RAI is a state-owned television network that has been symbolic of questionable integrity and favoritism in Italian media.

Monocle highlighted an exception to RAI’s problematic reportage in the form of reporter Milena Gabanelli. Gabanelli has been working for the last ten years to expose corruption in Italy’s cornerstone industries including fashion and fine dining. The article was succinct but delved into the careerist nature of Italian journalism that makes Gabanelli’s work exceptional.

Gabanelli is only one reporter, however, and Italy is only one nation where the lines blur frequently between truth, opinion and entertainment. Professor Matteo Scanni of Catholic University of Milan states in the Monocle that “…the media is not so much a watchdog as a lapdog�? in Italy. Former prime minister and current candidate for prime minister Silvio Burlesconi owns media outlet Mediaset which embarrasses honest journalists in southern Europe on a daily basis. The fact that Burlesconi has shifted in and out of national politics while holding on tight to his grasp of Italian media demonstrates how bad it can get in terms of media objectivity. Burlesconi has also tried to use political power to thwart RAI and other competitors to Mediaset in a consolidation effort that would cause Bill Gates to blanch.

There are an awful lot of jokes made about Italian politics and media on the world scene. The Onion made a joke about the constant shift of power in the Italian government in one of the spoof paper’s classic “funny but true�? moments. We should not be so quick to jump on Italy for allowing private media outlets like Mediaset and state-run outlets like RAI to rule the day. Our country has a terrible record in terms of media objectivity because we share something with Italian media consumers: we prefer the sound of the sizzle rather than the cause of the sizzle. We need Milena Gabanellis in our journalism school ranks to step up and buck the trend of “me toos�? in the media.

While I have ragged on The New York Times in multiple entries in the past, one of my favorite pieces of reading materials is the Sunday Times Magazine. The magazine encapsulates some of the major issues facing the world today without committing to some of the bloviating that goes on in the regular paper. I have to confess that I also enjoy the interviews because they are free online. This week’s interview subject was Umberto Eco, an Italian political philosopher who laments the growth of media consolidation in Italy.

Eco’s attacks on former Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi reveal his belief that media consolidation is a major demon in his native country. In the interview, however, the Times writer seems to bypass the fact that America is undergoing similar problems. Eco acknowledges that his specific concerns are peculiar to Italy though the Federal Communications Commission has certainly done a lot toward deregulating media markets. I think the responsibility for this oversight falls on Times writer Deborah Solomon.

One other issue I have with the interview with Umberto Eco is the type of questions that Solomon pursues about Eco’s literary background. The written word does not easily lend itself to transcribing discussions but I got the impression that Eco was agitated. Solomon asks whether he would care if anyone read his book 100 years from now. Eco gave a curt answer that essentially said that writers need to care about their work to ensure the creation of something significant. I am toying with the idea of making a review of the Times magazine a regular fixture each Monday. If anyone has any input, I would love to hear it.