Welcome – or, rather, benvenuti - to this blog! My posts will be mainly on Italy, trying to keep track of some of the developments of our research project while, at the same time, discussing some of the main events going on in the relationship between media and political power in the Belpaese.

As far as Italy is concerned, there could hardly be a more interesting time to start this blog. Just over a week ago, demonstrators invaded the streets of Rome to protest against the lack of freedom of press in the country. On the same night, the editor of the TG1, Augusto Minzolini, went on the 8pm edition of the news to comment that he could not understand the motives behind this protest. Italian media are free, Minzolini said in a controversial statement.

Were the demonstrators right in denouncing the lack of freedom of press in Italy? As in the many other similar episodes centered around the issue of media and democracy in Italy which we see reported daily on the domestic and on the foreign press, there is no easy answer. And the questions asked in Italy should be of interest everywhere in the world, as it seems to me that, far from being an anomaly, Italy is only the magnification of issues which are present elsewhere.

The absence of easy answers renders the presence of your comments an invaluable part of this blog. I am very keen to read what you think on the topic, and I encourage you not to be afraid to suggest issues for future posts. After all, there is no better way to link the two concepts which we are talking about here, media and democracy, than to discuss in a respectful, but still open and frank way.