On Tuesday evening I had renewed my scepticism for the Italian version of the Italian version of that noble format called talk show. On Rai Tre, Giovanni Floris, a young (in the Italian sense of the word, that is “below 50”) and brilliant presenter, proceeded relentlessly in his weekly challenge of orchestrating the opinions of no less than ten guests, which included one academic, one entrepreneur, one trade-union leader, one pollster, two other journalists and four (?!) politicians.

Politicians, as it often happens in this case, evaded questions. They had pre-prepared spins, so far from being spontaneous that they included the use of objects carried from home. The Northern League politician, Roberto Castelli took to the show a part of a shower to launch an attack on the unfair competition by Chinese manufacturers.

Whenever Floris tried to insist that a politician should try and address a certain question, he would often be outright ignored. On one occasion, the Minister of Culture, Sandro Bondi, even got mildly annoyed, asking him if he could finish their thoughts without being interrupted.

As I was thinking about how Jeremy Paxman would have reacted to such a statement by any Member of Cabinet, I certainly did not imagine that  I would soon be writing in defence of Italian talk shows. The decision by the Italian Parliament to suspend talk shows one month before the election to replace them with electoral tribunes, however, made this miracle happen.

Silvio Berlusconi welcomed the decision as he said talk shows have become barns, meaning that they only produce meaningless noise. Without being so extreme, I would be sympathetic with the general meaning of this statement. However, the solution is not the one of abolishing journalists, but that of reinforcing their roles. If that’s not possible, the confusion of a barn is better than the quietness of a succession of monologues.

Update: Some have underlined how this decision is nothing but an application of the Par Condicio Law. This law obliges TVs to host political programs with candidates from all the parties running in an election, regardless of their size. Since most talk shows are not prepared to invite guests from all parties, they will be suspended. I find this a rather puzzling outcome of a very impefect law. But, as discussed here, it is hard ot foresee something better replacing it in the near future.