Italy : discovering media accountability culture

Italy\u2019s media system represents the perfect example of the Mediterranean Model. Starting from the mid-1970s \u2013 when the country\u2019s media landscape began to be a more complex system through the introduction of commercial TV \u2013 to the recent process of digitalization, media accountability has been a largely unknown object. Indeed, the characteristics of the Italian media system seem to hinder the rise and the establishment of any nongovernmental method of ensuring the media\u2019s responsibility towards civil society in favor of \u203apublic accountability instruments\u2039. This report gives a brief account of and discusses the main characteristics of the Italian media system focusing on: the existing journalism culture; the state-related forms of accountability; the main non-state organization hosting a form of accountability, the Ordine dei Giornalisti (Journalists\u2019 Association). The report also discusses the emergence of two contrasting instruments of media criticism: infotainment TV programs and the blogosphere. (Media Accountability and Transparency in Europe (2010-PQ7-0011))