The Department of Information and Publishing of the Presidency of the Italian Council supports, through direct contributions, the editorial activity of newspapers and periodicals. Politics remains the main “external” factor influencing the quality of the journalistic product. Moreover, Italian newsrooms depend on a few large advertisers or sponsors. In this respect, legal provisions are in place to guarantee editorial independence, but the boundaries between information and advertising often tend to blur.

Management units, sales departments, and newsrooms are formally separated, and a National Journalistic Employment Contract states that the powers of the editor-in-chief “are determined by agreements stipulated between the publisher and the editor-in-chief”, who is responsible for elaborating the editorial line with a degree of autonomy. There are nevertheless (rare) situations where pressure is exercised by owners or sponsors.