ITALY
By Mariella Li Bergoli, 9/28/2001
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On September the 11th at 15.00 (Italian local time) Italians, like people all over the world, directly witnessed the tremendous terrorist attack to the WTC and the Pentagon. Media reply has been timely, even too much. In Bologna, in the evening, some boys were already distributing a special free edition of a national newspaper Il Resto del Carlino on this tragic event. While thousands of people were trying to save their lives, while they were running away from fire, dust and splinters, while they were burning trapped in their office or in a bomb shaped like a plane, in this very moment we watched their tragedy, we were glued to the TV horrified at what was happening. It seems now that all the world has lived this event but it isn't so. We were sitting in our chairs while all that happened, we were working, studying, eating. It is not my intention to criticize the media. On one side it would be preposterous to wonder at the immediacy of communications, which is a conquest of humanity, on the other side, it would be stupid to criticize the media because, the fact that they filmed every moment of the event has been a tragic series of coincidences and, they didn't know what would follow but I think that, if media informed people in a less sensationalistic way, if people didn't watch all the sequences of this event, probably now they wouldn't be so sure to claim a war, so frightened at the sight of an Arabian. In the first days after the terrorist attack Italian TV news and newspapers were totally concerned in explaining their audience and readers what the situation in N.Y. and Washington was and in trying to understand the U.S. Government's reaction. Rai 1 broadcast the special meeting of the Parliament during which both the majority an the opposition agreed in an unanimous and firm condemn of this act of terrorism and expressed solidarity with the Americans. The media have also underlined that Italy would adhere to any action decided by NATO and have stressed the Government's approval of the U.S.' decisions. Italian newspapers imitate the style used by the CNN as to headlines. Key word: war. After a week the media have to face a different problem: even though the situation is quite static they have to answer their audience's expectation. On one side their aim is to identify a real enemy, to canalize people's fear into one big representation of the evil. To this end they write an Osama bin Laden saga, talk about Al Qaeda and other organizations which are seemingly connected with O. bin Laden. On the other side they begin to reflect and to interpret the present situation. On some newspapers intellectuals and politicians, like Gorbachev and Stille, make interesting reflections that open to a different perspective of the facts, a perspective that take peace into consideration. Some tv programs which deals with politics discuss the whys of this event and try to show different points of view. A second stage, in which the event becomes an "international crisis". The third stage of news coverage is connected with two different polemics: the first one arises after the circulation in the internet of qa newsletter on the terrorist attack written by the Italian Nobel prizewinner Dario Fo, the second one has been caused by a statement of Berlusconi, president of the Government, during a press conference. Fo has been accused of being superficial and provocative in his analysis of the event but he defends himself saying that some sentences have been quoted out of context. Berlusconi's statement has been condemned by the EU, by many leaders of the European countries, and by the Arabian League as a racist, tactless and ignorant one. He defends himself saying that people have misunderstood what he really wanted to say. References
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