Spectacularization and Instrumentalization of Political Corruption Scandals in the Italian Press: the Case of ›Villa in Monte Carlo‹

Investigative journalism should represent a valid deterrent against corruptive behaviours because often, from a media scandal, arises a judiciary inquiry. This logic seems to be not always applicable in Italy. Indeed, Italian media system is characterized by a strong political polarization and journalism is affected by political influences. For this reason, in our country, the features of media system can push investigative journalism to turn a corruption scandal into an opportunity to attack someone. In particular, the corruption scandal, often not even connected to the real crime, is a weapon used to attack political enemies. This paper, inspired by our participation in the project co-funded by the European Commission under the Seventh Framework Program: Anticorruption Policies Revisited. Global Trends and European Responses to the Challenge of Corruption, tries to explain how Italian journalists, when covering a corruption cases, report detailed information about politicians and businessmen involved in order to reach a widespread (and dramatic) visibility of the scandal, to then use this visibility in an instrumentalized way in order to criticize political opponents. To show all that we have selected and analysed an Italian well-known scandal: “Fini’s Villa in Montecarlo”.