The 2018 Italian General Elections Issues In The Tv Agenda Between News and Talk Shows

The 2018 Italian General Elections can be recognized as one of the most relevant case studies in the contemporary political communication researches for many reasons. In particular, it’s crucial for the success of two populist parties (M5S and Lega Nord) and for the complexity of the recent scenario characterized by a political and social instability that was reflected in the alliance between the winner parties and in the disappearance of the “classic” party system. This situation can be considered as a vivid example of the new citizens approach towards politics, but also as an attempt to “break” with the previous political system and to have trust towards new political leaders as Matteo Salvini and Luigi Di Maio. In this situation, sometimes citizens aren’t able to understand election programs and solutions that are shown by each political party, because of the Country is interested by lots of relevant and, at the same time, complex problems, for example the economy growth, the unemployment, the public debt, the migration “flows”. All these issues represent problems which need to be resolved, but anyway only some of these become main topics into the public debate. The mass media system plays a central role in bringing order during the electoral campaigns, especially for its ability to build the themes agenda. In view of this, the proposal aims to analyze the general Tv political agenda through a content analysis of the most important information products, namely the morning and evening TV news of the seven main Italian Tv networks (Rai1, Rai2, Rai3, Rete4, Canale5, Italia Uno, La7), in comparison with the most discussed topics by politicians in the media “space” par excellence, which are the evening Tv talk shows in Italy (Bersaglio Mobile, Dalla vostra parte, DiMartedì, Faccia a Faccia, Kronos-Il tempo della scelta, Linea Notte, Matrix, Non è l’arena, Otto e mezzo, Piazzapulita, Porta a Porta, Propaganda Live, Quinta Colonna, #cartabianca)