Strumentalizzazione o tematizzazione? Una nuova prospettiva per studiare la politicizzazione della corruzione

In recent years, several scholars, mainly from the field of political science, have offered scientific insights into the politicisation of corruption. Through this article we intend to deepen the phenomenon from a perspective that refers more to media studies than to political science. In particular, we will try to show that the concept of politicization is closer to that of “thematization” than to the concept of “instrumentalization”. This allows us to avoid this concept from a purely normative approach, demonstrating that the politicization can convey a certain issue within the public debate. After proposing an operationalization of the concept based on the relevant literature, we will present the results of an empirical analysis on the journalistic coverage of corruption of four Italian newspapers from 2006 to 2020.