It is somewhat paradoxical to define a result that took the Lib Dems to government for the first time since World War Two as a flop. Yet the results were far from the success predicted by the pre-electoral polls: the 1% gain was far from the 6 or 7% one pollsters were anticipating and led to the Lib Dems not making any gains and, actually, losing five seats.

This result led Pierluigi Battista, the deputy-editor of the Italian newspaper, Corriere della Sera, to say that this was the proof that TV does not matter that much for electoral results. The surge in the polls for the Lib Dems had, in fact, followed the first leaders debate, in which Nick Clegg had shone compared to the conservative leader, David Cameron and the then Prime Minister, Gordon Brown.The electoral failure of Mr Clegg, Mr Battista argues, is the proof that the electorate is not influenced by TV by nearly as much as we think it is.

This blog took a different view from the one Mr Battista is taking. We suggested that the surge in the polls for the Lib Dems was due to the presence of a fair system of pre-electoral reporting, which gave credit to a party leader when he was considered to have won the debate. Despite the fact that Cleggflop followed Cleggmania, we still believe that to be the case.

What Mr Battista is missing is the fact that there were two other debates after the one Mr Clegg so triumphantly won. The last one, in particular, was key to understand the outcome of the elections. In that debate, Mr Clegg was seriously scrutinised for the consistency of his policy. He was put under severe pressure for his proposals on immigrations which, it was argued by a Guardian commentator, might have ultimately have cost him the election. Unsurprisingly, the papers then declared Cameron the winner of their debate. The focus groups showed that many were far from convinced by what Nick Clegg could actually do and declared that they would go for a safer option.

The lesson for Italy is not that TV does not matter. In fact, the media did their job by a) underlining the potential appeal of the Lib Dems when this emerged following the first debate and b) outlining how the third debate had exposed the frailty of the Lib Dem positions. The main point is that one needs to have (what at least look like) coherent and convincing policies to win the elections and not just the polls. The Italian opposition is, in this respect, similar to Nick Clegg's party and, for this reason, is paying a similar price. But this has nothing to do with the importance for democracy of a TV which knows how to properly scrutinise politicians and which Italy definitely lacks.