543169

research-article2014

JOU0010.1177/1464884914543169JournalismCiaglia and Mazzoni

Article

The politicization of
entertainment media: A study
of the Italian tabloid Chi during
the 2013 electoral campaign

Journalism
2015, Vol. 16(6) 812829
The Author(s) 2014
Reprints and permissions:
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DOI: 10.1177/1464884914543169
jou.sagepub.com

Antonio Ciaglia

University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa

Marco Mazzoni
University of Perugia, Italy

Abstract
The concept of political parallelism identifies the different forms in which the media and
politics can interact. However, media partisanship has always been almost exclusively
limited to news media. This study shows that the Italian media system is at the center
of a significant change, in regard to the way in which mass media political parallelism
works and develops. Due to structural reasons, Italys political parallelism crosses
the threshold of the news media and seems to fully apply to popular media as well.
The politicization of popular media has been investigated through a content analysis
of the Berlusconi-owned Chi (the most read magazine in Italy with 3.5million readers
on average). By proposing four models of coverage, the authors will show that the
coverage strategies put in place by Chi convey the extent to which the covered subjects
are politically and personally close to the undisputed leader, Berlusconi.
Keywords
Electoral campaigns, Italy, political parallelism, popular media, qualitative research,
tabloid press

Theoretical framework
Todays advanced democracies are experiencing a continual increase in the importance
of the media in shaping and influencing the balance of power among political and
Corresponding author:
Antonio Ciaglia, School of Literature, Language and Media, Faculty of Humanities, University of the
Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, Wits 2050, Johannesburg, Gauteng, South Africa.
Email: antonio.ciaglia@wits.ac.za

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institutional actors. Political leaders themselves are increasingly acknowledging the

necessity of mastering the media if they want to become successful leaders. However,
mastering the media does not necessarily mean making use of it for ones personal
advantage. The media works differently. As Mazzoleni and Schulz (1999) have rightly
noted, while it is true that politicians have grown accustomed to approaching the media
in a professional way, it is also true that they have become more dependent on it.
Nevertheless, another caveat is worth pointing out. On the one hand, the media does
not easily let external agents master it. On the other hand, once the media has become a
key player in the political game, content production and dissemination are likely to be
governed, or at least influenced, by politics. One element through which one can understand the influence of politics on the media is the extent to which politics and the media
overlap (Strmbck, 2008). Colin Seymour-Ure (1974) was the first to label the different
forms of interaction between politics and the media, and the term he used is particularly
cogent: political parallelism.
This article examines the case of Italy a high-political parallelism media system
(Hallin and Mancini, 2004). The Italian media is characterized by its marked and longrunning tendency to overlap with politics and act according to ideological and party
affiliation. Another example is represented by the party press (Giugliano and Lloyd,
2013). The party press has a strong presence in the Mediterranean countries, which are
characterized by a polarized-pluralist media system (Hallin and Mancini, 2004). The
collapse of the 19th-centurys ideologies in recent decades, however, has rendered the
party press increasingly impotent in influencing the national political debate. Indeed,
party press outlets have been gradually usurped by other printed outlets, which are not
always directly owned or managed by political parties, but which are nonetheless characterized by marked political biases. This is the case for il Giornale and la Repubblica.
These cases testify to how strongly rooted the marriage between media and politics is
in the Italian society. In Italy, political parallelism always finds a way to express itself,
despite the fact that the secular ideological pillars have fallen under the pressure of
modernization.
The argument made in this study is that due to the mass medias long-running political involvement and the anomaly embodied in Berlusconis conflicts of interest media
partisanship has spread beyond its ordinary boundaries in Italy. As previously mentioned, Seymour-Ure was the first researcher to conceptualize party-press parallelism.
Later, other scholars interestingly noted that political and media systems can interact in
different ways. In fact, mass media political parallelism can be created by diversified
political actors, such as political parties, the government, or parliament, through the
actions they take toward the media (Ciaglia, 2013; Humphreys, 1996; Mancini, 2012).
Additionally, political parallelism is not a dichotomous phenomenon. Consequently,
there can be different degrees of media partisanship, depending on the amount of pressure exerted by the political hand on the media (Blumler and Gurevitch, 1995). However,
irrespective of both the degree of contiguousness between the two systems and the nature
of the political actor primarily involved in this process, political parallelism has always
been conceived of as a phenomenon that exclusively applies to the news media. We
argue that in Italy because of the exceptional circumstances that characterize this countrys media system, this phenomenon has crossed the boundaries of news media and
spread to entertainment media.

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Before clarifying this point, however, it must be acknowledged that numerous studies
(Baum, 2005; Delli Carpini and Williams, 2001; Jones, 2005; Riegert, 2007; Van Zoonen,
2005; Zaller, 2003) show that within Western democracies, politicians tend to regularly
appear in media outlets that are primarily aimed at entertaining the public. These outlets
are permeated by celebrity gossip (Pedote, 2013), which many times is directed toward
politicians private lives. Thus, politicians private lives increasingly gain the interest of
the public (Corner and Pels, 2003). Political leaders cannot escape the medias attempts
to intrude into their private spheres because the entertainment culture has now become
one of the principal tools through which to understand and decrypt social life in general
terms (Dahlgren, 2000; Postman 1985; Van Zoonen, 2005). Gossip about politicians
families, vacations, and how they spend their spare time circulate ever more frequently
in the media, in most cases without the politicians consent. Such gossip has become a
key ingredient in building the media visibility a politician needs (Stanyer, 2012).
Consequently, political leaders are now called on to pay equal attention to their (pseudo)
private persona as they are to their political work (Langer, 2010). However, successfully
managing ones private persona is difficult. In fact, politicians are likely to fall into many
traps set by the media, which may want to circulate information that can be damaging to
a politicians reputation. The leaders are nearly never capable of controlling such a process, which under certain circumstances can profoundly undermine their political careers
(Allern and Pollack, 2012; Downey and Stanyer, 2013; Thompson, 2000).
The phenomenon that has been described in this article is developed through a process
of celebritization of the politician, by which the media increasingly covers politicians in
the same way it covers celebrities (Indiana, 2005; Mazzoni and Ciaglia, 2013; West and
Orman, 2003). As various studies suggest (Marshall, 1997; Rojek, 2001; Turner, 2004),
having celebrity status allows politicians to take advantage of new forms of social
legitimization.

Research question and methodology

This article provides a theoretical interpretation, through data-based evidence, of how
the boundaries of the Italian mass medias political partisanship are being reshaped. This
study examines the following question:
In the Italian scenario, how does political parallelism cross the threshold of the news
media and spread to entertainment and popular media?
As mentioned previously, political parallelism normally applies to the news media.
This study shows that in Italy, due to both the long-time partisan tendency shown by the
press and to the Berlusconi anomaly, political partisanship can also affect the media outlets that would normally be very far from political actors and debates. This is the main
reason behind the choice to analyze the magazine Chi only. Chi is the most read weekly
magazine in Italy (3.5million average readers per week) and is owned by the Mondadori
Group, a company led by Marina Berlusconi, Silvios older daughter. As data from
Audipresse show, Chis readership is very similar to that of another gossip magazine
owned by the Mondadori Group: Frances Closer. This readership is mostly composed of

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older people with a low degree of education who live in the less developed areas of Italy.
In short, Chis primary target is represented by people who are typically not interested in
political affairs. We are aware that by only studying Chi, our findings are neither generalizable nor applicable to the Italian entertainment media. However, our objective is not
to identify a systemic phenomenon. On the contrary, we aim to emphasize an exceptionalism generated by what are likely to be unique circumstances, such as the combination
of a consolidated tradition of media partisanship with the Berlusconi anomaly. The
choice of Chi, therefore, is consistent with our aim of understanding what these two
tendencies can produce.
Furthermore, we enlighten the dual role played by Chi. We argue that, due to the high
number of readers it reaches every week, Chi is the primary arena for self-promotion for
those politicians who make their private lives more public. In this sense, Chis role does
not deviate from that of other entertainment media. However, Chi is also and most
remarkably a war machine, the real political armed branch of the Berlusconi galaxy. And
this branch is led by managing editor Alfonso Signorini, one of the most important figures operating in Berlusconis TV network, Mediaset. In fact, in addition to being Chis
managing editor, Alfonso Signorini is one of the most powerful figures within Berlusconis
group, Mediaset. He has been for many years one of the hosts of Verissimo and the Italian
Big Brother (broadcast on Mediasets Canale 5) for 7 years, and the leading host of
Kalispra, one of the most successful shows on Mediasets Canale 5. Furthermore, it
should be noted that since 2006, the leading host of Verissimo has been Silvia Toffanin,
partner of Berlusconis older son, Piersilvio, who is Mediasets vice-president. This
aspect further highlights the very strong ties that link the Berlusconi family, the Mediaset
group, and Mondadoris Chi.
Although Signorini is commonly defined as the prince of gossip, he is a direct
expression of the political parallelism of Berlusconis Italy. This was confirmed by
Massimiliano Panarari (2009), who said,
Alfonso Signorini is Berlusconis Minister for Political Propaganda []. The weekly led by
Signorini has strongly contributed to build Berlusconis image, which successfully combines
glam and pop. Signorini is fully convinced that even in the pale and disoriented todays liberal
post-democracies, fairy tales continue to pay off. (p. 673)

The analysis period is 1 September 2012 to 28 February 2013, which corresponds to the
6 months prior to the general elections held on 24 and 25 February 2013. This period was
chosen to cover two crucial events in Italian politics: the Partito Democratico (PD) primary elections held on 25 November 2012 and the aforementioned general elections.
The electoral campaign is, by definition, the period in which political parties claim their
territories, accentuate their differences, and polarize the debate. It is the democratic
moment in which it can be expected that political partisanship will find complete expression, within both the political and media systems. We develop the research in two phases.
In the first phase, we carried out a content analysis that is exclusively aimed at understanding Chis quantity of coverage of various political and politically relevant actors.
With the expression politically relevant actor, we identify journalists and other personalities who have political significance even without being formally affiliated with any
parties. Most importantly, due to the type of medium that will be examined, politicians

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partners, relatives, and lovers have also been included. Indeed, in most cases, they are the
personalities who carry the real political messages. For each article, the central actor was
identified. Furthermore, the space occupied by each article was noted and finally added
up per each actor. This procedure allowed us to draw a rank on the basis of the quantity
of coverage received by each political and politically relevant personality. Intercoder
reliability was assessed by having two coders analyze 60 randomly selected reports and
calculating Cohens k (.91), a value that, according to Fleiss (1981), can be considered
excellent.
In the second phase, four models of coverage will be proposed. To do that, two specific categories of analysis were adopted. The first one is typically referred to as a very
important variable in media and journalism studies. This is the tone of coverage toward
the covered actors, which can generally be positive, neutral, and negative (De Vreese et
al., 2006). Due to the high degree of media and political polarization that characterizes
the country, Italy, on which this article is exclusively focused, and due to the limited
number of articles that were selected for analysis, we deemed that a dichotomous
approach would be more appropriate. Coverage was therefore classified as either mostly
positive or mostly negative. The second variable that was considered is political placement of the covered actors. Given the acknowledged high degree of parallelism between
media and politics that sets Italy apart from many Western countries, this variable gains
here a completely peculiar significance and is therefore particularly worth examining. In
fact, as will be shown, politicians are not the only actors who can be classified according
to their political or party placement. In Italy, political polarization spreads to other categories composing the countrys society, such as journalists, TV hosts, and even relatives.
This is one of the reasons why even gossip magazines can acquire in Italy political significance. As said, on the basis of these two categories of analysis, four models of coverage have been identified and explained (see Figure 1 below). To do so, the six longest
reportages have been selected and then textually and visually analyzed. We decided to
rely on the variable of article length because it is particularly rare for politicians to appear
on multiple-page reportages in gossip magazines. The fact that we came across a wide
number of long articles testifies to the increasing relevance that politicians are gaining in
Italys entertainment media. Furthermore, the articles that were selected are very much
representative of the different coverage styles adopted by the magazine depending on the
identity of the covered actor and its anthropological closeness to Berlusconi. In doing
this, we have closely followed Ralph Negrine (1994), who argues that mass media partisanship is widely dependent on the extent to which political actors are actually allowed
to intervene in the process of content creation. Most importantly, political parallelism is
equally strongly reflected in the content of the news and in the different ways in which
different political actors can be depicted and communicated to the public.

Empirical findings
The role of Chi as an arena for politicians self-promotion
Popular media today are completely and legitimately included among the communicative resources that modern politicians are required to master to render themselves fully
functioning public as well as private figures. As mentioned in the previous section,

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Figure 1. Four models of coverage of political and politically relevant actors adopted by Chi
between 1 September 2012 and 28 February 2013.

politicians see many opportunities in this process. While they can continue to promote
and advocate their political proposals through traditional channels, they can also
advertise and promote their (pseudo-) private virtues through alternative media.
However, this new scenario involves a number of risks as well. In fact, a higher attention from the media over public personalities private lives makes the latter more vulnerable, especially when they have secrets that they would rather not to publicize.
Unveiling these secrets and making them of public knowledge is one of gossip magazines core raison dtres. The weapon that these magazines normally make use of to
denigrate politicians and other public figures is that of scandal (Entman, 2012). In this
respect, a leading role is played by Chi in Italy. Due to its high rate of penetration, Chi
is the primary magazine in which any politician needs to appear once they decide to
play the game. Many political and institutional actors are now extremely keen to play
by these rules.
As such, it is prudent to examine the 20 most covered political or politically relevant
actors that Chi covered during the 6 months preceding the elections.
Berlusconi was the most covered actor in Chi between 1 September 2012 and 28
February 2013. Such evidence is not surprising. Chi is the Berlusconi family magazine,
and the head of family comes before everything else. With 26.5 pages, Berlusconi
receives nearly three times as much coverage as the then-premier, Mario Monti (9).
Montis coverage was less predictable. Being a notoriously reserved and shy person,
Monti is only second to Berlusconi in terms of newsworthiness for the leading Italian
soft magazine. In attempting to advance an early interpretation, it could be said that, on

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Table 1. The 20 most covered political or politically relevant actors in Chi between 1
September 2012 and 28 February 2013.
Actors

No. of Pages

Silvio Berlusconi (leader of PDL)

Matteo Renzi (former Florences mayor; prime minister currently
in charge)
Nicole Minetti (former counselor of the Lombardy Region, involved
in Berlusconis sex scandal)
Barbara Berlusconi (Silvios second daughter)
Veronica Lario (Silvios ex-wife)
Antonio Ingroia (former prosecutor, leader of Rivoluzione Civile)
Mario Monti (prime minister at the time of analysis)
Mara Carfagna (MP of PDL)
Giorgio Gori (PD and Renzis former consultant)
Michele Santoro (journalist and anchor of Servizio Pubblico)
Pierluigi Bersani (former leader of PD)
Enrico Mentana (journalist)
Rosario Crocetta (president of Sicily)
Francesca Pascale (Silvios partner)
Vittorio Sgarbi (mayor of Salemi, Sicily)
Antonio Di Pietro (leader of IDV, one of the constituting parties of
Rivoluzione Civile)
Romana Liuzzo (MP of PDL)
Sara Tommasi (showgirl involved in Berlusconis sex scandal)
Anna Paola Concia (MP of PD)
Nichi Vendola (leader of SEL)
Nunzia de Girolamo (former MP of PDL and Minister for
Agriculture; currently MP of NCD)
Renata Polverini (MP of PDL)
Subtotal
Total

26.5
23

7.4
6.4

18.5

5.2

16.5
15.5
10
9
8.5
7
7
7
6
6
5.5
5.5
5

4.6
4.3
2.8
2.5
2.4
1.9
1.9
1.9
1.7
1.7
1.5
1.5
1.4

5
5
4.5
4.5
4.5

1.4
1.4
1.3
1.3
1.3

4.5
204.5
359

1.3
57.0
100.0

IDV: Italia dei Valori party; MP: member of Parliament; NCD: Nuovo Centrodestra party; PDL: Il Popolo della
Libert; SEL: Sinistra Ecologia Libert party.

the one hand, Mario Monti tries to soften and humanize his persona by opening himself
to media outlets drastically different from those he is accustomed to.
For the family magazine, however, Berlusconis family is considered highly newsworthy. In Table 1, we find Barbara Berlusconi, Silvios second daughter (16.5 pages)
and Veronica Lario, Silvios ex-wife (15.5 pages). Furthermore, it is interesting to note
that among the 20 most covered actors in Chi, female politicians strongly prevail. Among
these figures are Nicole Minetti (Il Popolo della Libert, PDL), former councilor to
Lombardy and part of the Ruby scandal (31.5 pages); Mara Carfagna (PDL), former
Minister for Equal Opportunities (8.5 pages); Romana Liuzzo, member of PDL (5);
Nunzia De Girolamo (PDL), currently Minister for Agriculture (4.5); and Renata
Polverini (PDL) with 4.5 pages.

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Chi also makes room for some of il Cavalieres enemies. As we will see, however, the
degree of enmity varies depending on the enemy. In fact, Chi covers some of Berlusconis
sworn enemies, such as the journalist Michele Santoro (7), one of his long-time archenemies, and the Italia dei Valoris (IDV) leader and former prosecutor, Antonio Di
Pietro (5 pages). In the following pages, it will be interesting to show the nature of Chis
coverage of personalities such as Santoro.
Other types of opponents appear on Chi as well. In this case, however, they are
simple political opponents (and not enemies), who are only opponents because they
belong to other political parties. Berlusconi does not feel as anthropologically distant
from them as he does from his sworn enemies. Within the category of simple opponents figure personalities such as the mayor of Florence, Matteo Renzi (23), Mario
Monti (9), and Renzis collaborator, Giorgio Gori (7). The fact that politicians such as
Monti and Renzi have garnered the most coverage suggests that Italys popular media
are no longer exclusively used by center-right politicians the way they were only a
few years ago. A wide range of leaders, whether respected public figures or promising
rising stars, choose to appear in Chi when they want to unveil their private lives. In
the Italian media landscape, Signorinis magazine seems to have gained increasing
importance. It is not by chance that Monti and Renzi have willingly and regularly
opened up their private lives to Signorini, as demonstrated by their numerous interviews in Chi.

Four faces of the same coin. Toward an identification of models of

coverage
Table 1 provides a partial overview of the most covered actors during the 6 months preceding the elections. The table does not say much about the quality of Chis coverage. As
already noted, popular magazines can be powerful tools for politicians to establish channels of communication with audiences that could not be reached through traditional
media. Equally, entertainment media can help politicians improve and soften their public
persona. By sharing detailed aspects of their private lives with the public, politicians try
to reduce the gap between the office holders and ordinary people, a gap which they normally struggle to fill. This is the logic at the core of the concept of pop politics. However,
such an objective can only be achieved if politicians have virtues to promote and positive
aspects to emphasize, and if those magazines adopt an accommodating approach toward
them.
In this respect, reflection is needed. Unlike quality papers, popular magazines are not
strictly dependent on current events. One political leader can appear on a pop magazines
front pages without having been at the center of a recent political event. Walking in the
city center, going on holiday with the family, and going shopping can be more than
enough to grab the popular medias attention. However, in such cases, popular magazines have a wide margin of discretion. In other words, in those cases, the true difference
is made by the attitude the magazine decides to adopt toward the politician. This attitude
is reflected in the magazines choice of particulars, in the ways in which it tells the story,
and the way in which neutral activities, such as walking or shopping, are framed and
communicated.

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However, as will be shown, Chis discretion in the choice of the nuances with which
different political personalities are depicted strongly conveys Signorinis intention to
govern the process of news dissemination. By so doing, one of the fundamental rules of
partisan media applies: different actors are associated with different attributes.
Additionally, Chis angle operates in the Berlusconi galaxy. By relying on the analysis of
the coverage provided by Chi, we have identified four categories of actors:
1.
2.
3.
4.

Berlusconi and his domain of relationship

The women of PDL
Sworn enemies
Lukewarm enemies

As Figure 1 shows, given the angle (Berlusconis Mondadori and Mediaset) from
which Chi looks at Italian politics and politicians, the center-left actors were classified as
enemies. In fact, they can be considered as natural enemies, being part of, or somehow
supporting, Berlusconis opposite coalition. However, the degree of enmity varies
depending on each personality and this variation is reflected in the type of coverage that
Chi provides. Hence emerges the differentiation between lukewarm and sworn enemies.
In the following sections, an explanation will be attempted as to this difference in the
tones of coverage of political opponents. As for Berlusconis closest personalities, as can
be seen, it was not possible to come across any examples of negative coverage of PDLs
personalities or supporters. On the other hand, the category of center-right politicians
and supporters who received mostly positive coverage turned out to be extremely broad.
Due to that, attention was specifically paid to two subcategories upon which Chi is particularly keen on focusing: Berlusconis domain of relationship and the women of PDL.

Berlusconi and his Domain of Relationship

The first category is the least surprising one. Berlusconi and his closest entourage have
maintained over the years a high degree of newsworthiness for TV shows and printed
newspapers (for both quality and popular outlets). The degree of such newsworthiness
has never been dependent on what office Berlusconi has held. Irrespective of the office
he holds, Berlusconi is newsworthy. In regard to the quality of coverage, Berlusconi
arouses the medias interest in relation to a variety of areas: his family, the places where
he uses to spend his holidays, and his obsession with physical shape. There are many
articles in which Berlusconi appears smiling and comfortable while wearing his swimming trunks. The aim is clearly to show how good his shape is. Indeed, Chis articles on
Berlusconi and his inner circle are characterized by an extremely accommodating tone.
Chi aims to deliver an image of tranquility and normality, despite Berlusconis political
career being notorious for abnormal events. This represents one of the most characteristic aspects of berlusconism: the tension between Berlusconis exceptionalism (which
entails Arcores villa, his immense wealth, and his lifestyle) and his constant concern for
delivering and disseminating a message of normality to establish a connection with typical Italians. These are the Italians who are shunned by the sectarian left-wing elites,
that is the Italians who love football and read Chi. Translating such a process into an

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oxymoron, it is possible to say that Berlusconi aims to deliver a message that any ordinary person can attain exceptionalism. As many analyses have shown, this category of
citizens/electors has been a key ingredient for Berlusconis political and electoral successes over time. Unlike the center-left parties, Berlusconi and his coalition have been
able to establish a strong and long-lasting connection with the typical Italian, which
primarily signifies middle-aged citizens with low levels of education. These citizens are
generally distant from political debates and are more likely to regularly make use of
entertainment and popular media, such as Chi.
Furthermore, we see that the Chi issued on 20 February 2013, just 1 week before the
elections, ran a 5-page article on Francesca Pascale, Berlusconis new partner. The
article opens with a full-page image of the couple, where Berlusconi appears extremely
comfortable, smiling, and serene (despite his troubles with the judiciary). Francesca
stares at him with a wide smile, providing an image of natural complicity, which all
happy couples display.1 The article is aimed at giving Chis readers more details about
Berlusconis new partner, a woman whom everyone knows about, but of whom very
few know. This is a typical example of media coverage unbound and independent
from current events: it is completely centered on the actors it covers. The article is a
journey through Francescas life. She has not been involved in any recent events.
Therefore, the tone of the coverage is almost entirely dependent on Chi. And Chis
tones will surely be positive. The headline is simple: Francesca is back, but as the
article begins, different interesting elements begin to emerge: Despite the rumors that
she was about to get off the scenes to not obstacle Berlusconis campaign, and her love
story was just an expedient for the media, Francesca Pascale is and will continue to be
on Silvios side.
There are two principal keys of interpretation. First, the love story between Silvio and
Francesca is real and much stronger than their enemies sarcasm and mockery regarding
their age difference, as well as the alleged electoral convenience of their relationship.
The second interpretation key: Francesca knows her stuff. Berlusconis troubles are well
known, he is overwhelmed by a lot of pressure, and his opponents attack him more and
more every day. Nevertheless, Francesca is and intends to continue being with the man
she loves.
Additionally, Francesca is a passionate supporter of the football team Napoli. The
mission to paint Berlusconi as a normal man has been almost accomplished: despite
being engaged to a wealthy man, Francesca cooks and hates going to the gym. As for
the second aspect, Chis readers are told that Francesca is versed in politics. Indeed,
she is qualified to counsel her partner and may one day hold a prestigious office herself. She was one of the earliest subscribers to Forza Italia, and previously worked at
Fuorigrotta Bagnoli Council and at the Provincial Council of Naples. This report is
symbolic of Chis approach to Berlusconi and his inner circle. The majority of the
articles do not refer to specific events. Thus, Signorini has a wide margin of discretion
with regard to deciding the nuances through which to depict various people and suggest the categories by which to decrypt the message. In the case of Berlusconi and his
entourage, the message is normality, namely, the serenity that characterizes all successful leaders.

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The women of PDL

The second category, the women of PDL, displays many similarities with Berlusconi and
his inner circle. Previous research has shown that popular and entertainment magazines
tend to pay particular attention to female celebrities (Mazzoni and Ciaglia, 2013). Such
logic also applies to those cases in which celebrities are political leaders. In the case of
Chi, however, the application of this rule is strongly dependent on the identity (and the
political background) of the covered subjects. Indeed, the way in which Chi covers
PDLs women is even more interesting if compared to how this magazine approaches and
treats women who belong to political categories than PDL.
For now, it suffices to say that while Berlusconi and his inner circle are characterized by
an image of normality, the women of PDL are associated with an image of success, style,
and elegance. This image contrasts with the old style characterizing left-wing politicians,
whose concerns consist of approving new taxes and hating Berlusconi. This message is
delivered, and sometimes shouted, by Chi through full-page articles, full-color photographs, redundant tones, and emphatic headlines. Chi often describes the women of PDL
as the most beautiful women in the world. In other reports, they are shown as self-confident and determined. One very interesting example for that is represented by Chi issued on
20 February 2013, in which articles about Valentines Day are published. How do politicians spend the day on which love is celebrated? With the objective of launching her candidacy as member of Parliament (MP), PDLs Romana Liuzzo invites a high number of
people for dinner under Cupids sign. However, a precise political slogan is associated
with this party. This is one of the most remarkable examples of how political parallelism is
declined and implemented in the era of celebrity politics: On the cry of only love will save
us from Montis policies and Bersanis property tax, the new PDLs candidate Liuzzo
organized a party with some special guests: Carfagna, Cicchitto, and Ravetto.2
Mara Carfagna, Fabrizio Cicchitto, and Laura Ravetto are leading PDL figures.
Therefore, PDLs politicians are collaborating. Both new and long-serving MPs meet,
celebrate, and talk on Valentines Day. They collaborate in the name of love, which sets
them apart from the left-wing parties, who can only hate their political opponents.
However, there is more to say about this article. Not only is the anthropological distance
between the left and Berlusconis right emphasized, but two of the most important leaders running against Berlusconi (Monti and Bersani) are associated with damaging and
undesirable policy measures. PDLs female politicians are depicted here as fresh alternatives to both past allegedly disastrous policies (implemented during the Monti-led government) and future potential risks (represented by a government led by Bersani).
However, because such a strong political message is delivered by a magazine such as
Chi, it becomes part of a broader scenario characterized by radiant women, fancy clothing, and accurately chosen accessories. Pictures of two of PDLs most important MPs,
Mara Carfagna and Laura Ravetto, are emphasized. The two women are the most photographed people in the article. Furthermore, readers are provided with detailed information about the clothing they wear and the quality of their handbags (Chanel for Laura
Ravetto, Louis Vuitton for Mara Carfagna). All the particulars are carefully described
with the purpose of underlining the two womens elegance and good taste.

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Sworn enemies
The image of both Berlusconis domain of relationship and the women of PDL that
emerges from our analysis is, to a certain extent, predictable given the type of magazine
selected for analysis. Nevertheless, various (and surprising) elements of interest emerge
from the way Chi covers Berlusconis opponents (according to the degree of enmity it
characterizes each of them by). Here lies another important feature of the new declination of mass medias political parallelism that we propose. Political parallelism does not
exclusively result in the unconditional support of the political leader to whom one media
outlet is close, it also discredits and detracts from that leaders opponents. The strategy
implemented by Chi during the 2013 election campaign is even more sophisticated. The
magazine calibrates its tone according to the nature of the opponent it is called on to
cover: that is, according to whether the opponent is a sworn enemy or a simple political
opponent.
Paradoxically, almost all of il Cavalieres sworn enemies stand outside of the politicoinstitutional spectrum. More specifically, the enemies that Chi identifies are magistrates,
such as Ilda Boccassini, or journalists, such as Michele Santoro. The reportage on Ilda
Boccassini that we examine is particularly interesting, as it can be closely compared to
the previously analyzed article on PDLs MPs. Chi on 26 December 2012 published a
lengthy article on Ilda Boccassini, magistrate at the Tribunal of Milan, titled, Classy
shopping. As will be shown, this title is clearly ironical and allusive. There are interesting bits, such as: Milans prosecutor does not resist the temptation to go shopping to the
luxurious rectangle of fashion. In the meanwhile, she throws her loved cigarette on the
ground.
In a single sentence, two regrettable actions of Boccassini are noted. Not only does
she love smoking (the loved cigarette), but, while so doing, she even disregards one of
the basic civic rules, throwing the cigarette on the ground. The article describes Boccassini
shopping in Via Montenapoleone, one of the most glamorous areas of Milan. The article
is not composed of any written sections. The only exception is represented by a text box
in which the clothing and accessories that Boccassini is wearing are minutely described.
Their price is reported as well. Her Faliero Sarti scarf is worth 300, the Gallo stockings
21. She also exhibits a Car Shoe 2011/2012 Collection handbag. The headline of this
text box is even more significant: Matter of style.3
This article becomes even more significant if compared to Liuzzos Valentines Day
party. On that occasion, fancy clothing and accessories were noted as symbols of class
and good taste. In Boccassinis case, they represent vulgarity and bad taste, which are
worsened by the magistrates civic misbehavior. It is not by chance that PDLs female
MPs pose in front of Chis photographers, whereas Boccassini is caught while shopping
on Milans most luxurious street. Notably, how political parallelism applies to soft media:
similar circumstances are imbued with completely opposite meanings according to
whom the protagonists are. By referring to the known categorization by Stanyer (2012),
it is fair to say that the different approaches that Chi adopted in the two aforementioned
articles places them into two different caricatures: the coverage of Carfagna and Ravetto
is consensual/non-scandalous, whereas the coverage of Boccassini is non-consensual/
scandalous.

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However, Berlusconi has many enemies. Therefore, the case of Ilda Boccassini
cannot be the only example of how soft media partisanship attacks Berlusconis
sworn enemies. In fact, the Boccassini method is also applied to Michele Santoro,
anchorman of Servizio Pubblico and Berlusconis number one enemy among journalists. The reportage that we selected was published in Chi on 8 January 2013, a few
days prior to the epic duel at Servizio Pubblico.4 The article contained a number of
photos portraying Santoro on holiday on Cocoa Island, the Maldives. The journalist
is photographed while diving into the water and relaxing with his wife on the beach.
The heavenly island is described in the article, which has a seemingly neutral headline: A relaxing vacation between snorkeling and foreign readings. However,
unlike the Valentines Day party, Chi meddles in Santoros affairs, reporting that the
seaside bungalow where Santoro is staying is costing him 9000. The exclusivity of
the location is therefore not emphasized as a choice of style, but as a privilege that
very few can afford. How the article is framed clearly places it in the category of
non-consensual/scandalous coverage. Although Santoro is not involved in any scandal, his vacation became scandalous to Chi readers, thanks to the interpretative
mechanisms the magazine used. Such mechanisms directly stem from the strategies
put into place by Chi. The magazine scientifically differentiates the implications of
the events it covers (events that can be very similar at times) according to who the
actors are.

Lukewarm enemies
The typology proposed in this article ends with the category of lukewarm enemies.
This term refers to simple political opponents, namely, those personalities who are
only classifiable as enemies because they cannot be otherwise. These are people who
belong to parties other than PDL, but toward whom Berlusconi does not feel anthropologically far, as in the case of his sworn enemies. For instance, il Cavaliere has
never hidden the respect he has for PDs Matteo Renzi, Florences mayor when this
research was carried out and prime minister since 22 February 2014. At the same
time, Antonio Ingroia, former prosecutor and currently leader of the leftist Rivoluzione
civile (an electoral cartel which was dismissed soon after its disappointing electoral
performance at the 2013 general elections), is perceived as a threatening electoral
competitor by the PD to a greater extent than by PDL. Indeed, it is unlikely that
Ingroia will steal a significant number of votes from Berlusconis party. It is reasonable to argue that Berlusconi may even hope for a good electoral performance by
Rivoluzione civile, as this would entail that a high number of votes would likely be
taken from PDLs principal opponent, PD. The Chi articles analyzed here are about
Renzi and Ingroia.
The most famous Chi article on Renzi (an article which very soon went viral as it was
continuatively referred to both on TV and on the principal social networking platforms)
does not fall within our period of analysis but is worth mentioning because it represents
the pop-politicians manifesto. In this 5-page article, Renzi poses dressed like Happy
Days Fonzie.5 One of the text boxes elaborates the following:

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Do people say I resemble Fonzie? Do they criticize me for attending Amici?6 These are radicalchic critiques. I want to talk with young and old, and to do that I need to go to the shows they
watch and talk the language they speak. My duty is to be straightforward and not elitist.

The modern pop-politicians credo could not be explained any clearer.

Getting back to the period of analysis, Chi published, on 26 December 2012, an
article dedicated to Matteo Renzi on holiday at the Abetone, where he was skiing.
The 3-page article titled, The mayor on the snow shows Renzi in perfect shape,
smiling, and relaxing with his family. The allusive tones of Boccassini and Santoros
articles have now disappeared. No reference is made to the possible cost of the trip.
However, the article refers to the current political, stating that the mayor seems to
have recovered from the defeat he suffered at the PD primary elections the previous
November:
The mayor is surely not depressed for the defeat at the PD primary elections he suffered from
Bersani. He goes to have some relax in the mountains. Renzi is an excellent skier, as revealed
by the images in this reportage []. Between all-American dreams of glory and skiing, Renzi
keeps his muscles warm with a view to other eventual descents (to the field).

Just a few months earlier, on 17 October 2012, Chi published another masterpiece of pop
politics. This article consisted of a dialogue between Renzi and his father. The PD primary elections were getting closer (25 November). The 7-page article gets the front page,
with the headline, Me, my father, and our dream: unified Italy. Chis journalist almost
abstracts himself from the context, as if a real dialogue were taking place between Renzi
and his father on an ordinary Florentine day:
They talk about politics, drinking a glass of wine and eating a few slices of salami, as they sit
on the family house lawn, in the surroundings of Florence.

Matteo:
Father:

You and Bersani are the same age. You now need to yield to others.
You are not the first who wants to change things

The world changes, but politicians remain always the same, betrays Matteo.

The reader is provided with an image of Renzi, who although is strongly determined to
change the status quo, is not hostile to an entire generation, as many media outlets assert.
Renzi even discusses rottamazione7 with his father, who is part of the generation he
encourages to step back. They eat bread and salami, and drink wine in a bucolic setting.
The political implications here are more telling than in the previous article, however.
Renzi is now running his electoral campaign not against Berlusconi, but against
Bersani. This is likely one of the main reasons why Renzi is being allowed to campaign
in Chi:
Father:
I am proud of the choice your brother made.
Matteo: 
Do you mean Samueles decision to leave Florence to avoid being seen as
a person with pulls?

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Journalism 16(6)

Father: 
Yes. It should not be taken for granted. He could have been a doctor at
home. Instead, he is now a doctor in Switzerland and no one can say he is
thanks to pulls.
Matteo: You and your generation have contributed to spread the message that one
can only find a good job if they know somebody. We will be the ones who
change this attitude. I want the young to find a job because they know
something well, not because they know someone.
Pulls are an evil to which the generation of Renzis father (and Bersani) has contributed. The only hope is represented by people like Matteos brother. These people, on the
strength of the things (and not the people) they know, do not fear leaving home to pursue
their careers. Another hope is represented by Matteo himself, who stays in Italy without
the fear of fighting a generation that has held power for too long and made a mess of it.
Finally, it is worth mentioning an article on Antonio Ingroia, which was published in
Chi on 30 January 2013. Remarkably, given this articles argument, Ingroia discusses
some of the views of his political opponents. As previously mentioned, Ingroia leads
Rivoluzione civile, a left-wing coalition, but he immediately clears things up by stating,
[I have] never been a communist. I not even subscribed to the party.
Who is his number one (political) enemy? Surprisingly, it is not the leader of the
opposite political coalition Berlusconi but Monti, who has been fooling Italians.
Instead, Berlusconi has always been humorous, like me. On the other hand, Bersani
would do anything to grab the power. These words are emblematic of the logic of
political parallelism applied to the soft media. Even the leader of the most left-wing party
must assimilate Chis politico-editorial rules if he wants to appear in the magazine.
Indeed, the leader who best comes out of Ingroias words is paradoxically the one who is
politically furthest from him. In conclusion, another aspect should be noted. When the
coverage is positive (non-scandalous, la Stanyer) as in the cases of Berlusconi,
Carfagna, Renzi, and Ingroia, the articles are almost always arranged and agreed beforehand: the leaders pose, open the doors of their homes, and introduce their families.
Conversely, when Chi aims to produce a scandal, even when there is none, the magazine
chases its prey. It suffices to steal a few snapshots of the victims doing the most mundane
of activities. The war machine will then create the perfect crime.

Conclusion
Italy has historically been characterized by a strong contiguousness, if not overlap, of
media and political systems. Such a connection was initially found in the party press and
was one of its more evident expressions. The mediapolitical connection then embraced
TV, generating an anomaly par excellence: the 20-year mediapolitics blackout represented by Berlusconis conflicts of interest. However, as far as the press is concerned,
mass medias political parallelism has always been a phenomenon limited to the news
media.
As this research shows, due to both the long-running tendency toward partisanship
displayed by Italian media and the political anomaly that characterizes part of that system, new forms of political partisanship are emerging. Media partisanship is crossing the

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threshold of news media and spreading into entertainment media. Chi is the most obvious expression of this process. Chi is a weekly magazine displaying a marked dual
nature. First, Chi is the most popular magazine in Italy. It is the magazine in which every
politician who decides to open his or her private life to the public wants to appear.
Appearing in Chi makes it possible for a politician to reach a large number of people,
thanks to the magazines attractiveness to readers who are normally uninterested in politics. On the other hand, Chi acts according to a partisan logic. In this respect, the
Signorini-led magazine stops being an entertainment medium and becomes a war
machine, an armed branch of the Berlusconi galaxy. And the effects of this shift can be
clearly identified in the different nuances with which Chi approaches and covers personalities who belong to different political coalitions. However, the motive behind Chis
modus operandi is not exactly that of the political parties to which its victims or heroes
belong. Rather, it is the degree of political, anthropological, and even human proximity
that these personalities show to the true and undisputed force behind the magazine:
Silvio Berlusconi.
Funding
This research received no specific grant from any funding agency in the public, commercial or
not-for-profit sectors.

Notes
1. The picture can be seen by clicking on the following URL: http://www.nonmidire.it/foto/
le-foto-di-silvio-berlusconi-e-francesca-pascale_8415_2.html
2. One of the most interesting pictures that appeared in Chi in relation to this event can be seen
here:
http://www.liberoquotidiano.it/news/gossip-moda/1184929/Giornalistipolitici-e
canichiacchiere-e-gossip-in-casa-Liuzzo.html
3. The reportages main photo can be found at this URL: http://www.repubblica.it/politica/
2012/12/20/foto/trattamento_mesiano_per_la_boccassini_su_chi-49134824/1/?ref=NRCT2
4. One of the most memorable episodes of Servizio Pubblico took place when Berlusconi, on 10
January 2013, was invited by Michele Santoro as a host only. Berlusconi deflected each and
every attack launched by hosts Santoro and Travaglio. As a result, the Italian media and most
citizens agreed that Berlusconi had won the fight.
5. The picture portraying Renzi and Fonzie can be seen here: https://twitter.com/chimagazine/
status/337208592375619585/photo/1
6. Amici is a TV talent show broadcast on Mediasets Canale 5. This show is known in Italy for
attracting a large and youthful audience.
7. Rottamazione is a term that was first used by Renzi to identify the necessity of replacing the
older and inefficient generation of politicians with a new one composed of hardworking and
honest politicians.

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Author biographies
Antonio Ciaglia is AW Mellon Postdoctoral Fellow at the School of Literature, Language and
Media, Wits University, Johannesburg. His research interests include media and democracy and
comparative political communication. His articles have appeared in the European Journal of
Communication, the International Journal of Cultural Studies and the International Communication
Gazette.
Marco Mazzoni is Assistant Professor of Public Relations at Dipartimento Istituzioni e Societ,
University of Perugia. His research interests include popularization of politics and the role of public relations practitioners in the decision-making and news-making processes. His major publications include: Le relazioni pubbliche e il lobbying in Italia (Laterza, 2010). His articles have
appeared in the International Journal of Cultural Studies and Celebrity Studies.

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