The media monitoring landscape in Italy is diverse, with many institutions, authorities, and research institutes. First of all, the work of the independent Agcom can be indicated as a best practice in the European landscape. The Authority has launched several monitoring activities for the protection of pluralism, often in partnership with universities (see Indicator E3 – Diversity of news formats & Indicator F3 – Diversity of news sources).
Another important body is the Osservatorio di Pavia, an independent research institute specialised in media analysis, which carries out monitoring projects on media and democracy, media pluralism, freedom of expression, media governance, and human rights, with a particular focus on public service broadcasting. In the words of the editor-in-chief of Tg1 we interviewed (see Indicator C2 – Independence of the news media from powerholders), this constitutes a significant pressure point for the public news service. The Osservatorio di Pavia also monitors the degree of pluralism in local television broadcasting and collaborates with Associazione Carta di Roma [Charter of Rome Association] (an association for journalism deontology in migration, see Indicator E7 – Code of ethics at the national level & Indicator E8 – Level of self-regulation) to prepare an annual report on racism and migrant representation in the media.
To fight hate, intolerance, and violence on the web and in the field, the Ufficio Nazionale Antidiscriminazioni Razziali [National Office against Racial Discrimination] operates especially with a focus on young people.
Oxygen for Information, a non-profit association with the support of the FNSI, regularly publishes reports on cases of intimidation of journalists by authoritative powers and organised crime (see Indicator C9–Watchdog function and financial resources).
Finally, monitoring activities also concern the economic and professional dimension of journalism. Since 1990, the Federazione Italiana Editori Giornali[Italian Newspaper and Publishers’ Association] has analysed the quality of employment and economic benefits. Federazione Italiana Editori Giornali also monitors the professional training of workers in the media sector. A more recent development is the establishment of PA Social, an Italian public communicators association that through the Osservatorio Nazionale sulla Comunicazione Digitale [National Observatory on Digital Communication] (web, social networks, chat, artificial intelligence) tries to foster innovation in the field of public authorities’ communication.
Little has been done in response to the Beijing Platform for Action’s calls for the adoption of adequate legal instruments, policy provisions, and self-regulatory mechanisms to support and protect women working in the media and to promote gender-responsive media content, but many observatories focused on gendered representation operate within Italian universities (see Indicator F9 – Gender equality in media content).
