The disappearance of the news

The news report lasted eight minutes. Newspaper editors in chief, Maurizio Belpietro, of Libero, and Antonio Padellaro, of Il Fatto Quotidiano were in the studio to comment. The 8 pm news programme on the state television channel RAI 1, dedicated nearly one third of its time to the story of the now famous house in Monte Carlo. We fully understand that the Speaker of the House is involved. We fully understand that, in addition to this important figure, the future of the present government is also at stake, but there are a great number of questions to be asked. The first is about the world of information, almost all of it. An unbelievable amount of time is being given over to politics, and to the gossip surrounding it. Every day, on the television news programmes, we are forced to watch the same old stories with the same ten faces. 

The important national newspapers dedicate at least a dozen pages, including the front pages, of course, to describing the most insignificant episode, in its every detail. What is disconcerting is how the space allocate their time to the news items; some stories that concern the everyday problems that people have to face, even get no space at all. And then, little attention is paid to important topics that concern us all. Last week, at the UN, representatives of governments throughout the world met, in anticipation of the final date of 2015, to talk about the objectives and proposals of the Millennium Campaign to eradicate famine in the world, to guarantee education for all children, to reduce infant mortality, etc. In our media, with some noteworthy exceptions, the meeting got little coverage. Maybe, in this case, it is also understandable, because of the shame that we must feel as a country.

In 2000, the objective that the UN set, which was shared by everyone, entailed a commitment that that everyone would allocate 0.7% of their GDP to obtain concrete results. Italy has allocated only 0.1%, thereby lowering dramatically the general average, of slightly more than 0.3%. We can only hope that there is an improvement over the next five years. Moving on to matters at home, a few days ago, the Italian Statistics Institute, ISTAT, published the employment figures. The picture shows a terrible situation. Over one quarter of young people are unable to find work. This is the worst result this decade. On RAI 1’s news programme, the story was given the same space as the new physiotherapy services for dogs. And the situation was not much better in the printed press. Then we wonder why the people buy fewer and fewer newspapers. The other question is about the climate we have been living in for some time.

A certain way of reporting the news radicalises positions, and does not help to tackle problems. Furthermore, it produces a very dangerous culture. For months now, the newspapers Il Giornale and Libero have been fighting a battle against Gianfranco Fini, ignoring all rules of civility. They are entirely unconcerned about the effects they produce also on other people not directly involved. However these stories may end, our society will certainly be no better for it. This may be against the trend, but our work should also consider this aspect.