It was April 3, 1947, Italy was emerging from a devastating war, De Gasperi led a provisional transitional government towards the Democratic Republic, the address voted by the citizens the previous year, June 2, 1946.
The Constituent Assembly had not yet drafted the Constitution. De Gasperi was concerned with regulating the Italian radio and television system. The great success enjoyed by Mussolini with the radio required particular attention. A law which entrusted the concessionaire of radio broadcasts to the Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications.
To the articles 11-12-13 of the legislative decree of the Provisional Chief of State, n.428 of 3 April 1947, the President of the Chamber of Deputies, not yet elected, had the task of establishing a Supervisory Commission on radio and television systems, appointing 17 members among the Deputies, representatives of all parliamentary groups. De Gasperi had not excluded any party and the subdivision had not thus begun since the President of the Chamber was in charge of the Commission, and the Ministry of Posts, i.e. the Government, was responsible for the radio and television system.
Every territory where there was a repeating station of radio signals, a technical surveillance commission was established. What interested the provisional Head of State most was that transmissions did not interfere with foreign lines and were not disturbed by them. People still lived in fear, and transmission lines were important for both secrecy and publicity. But representatives of radio users were also envisaged in the Commissions of the Ministry (art. 2) . The openness was there and for that time it was also maximum.
The first reform of Rai arrives with the Law of 14 April 1975, n. 103. Appealing to the art. 43 of the Constitution, explicitly mentioned, the Rai is defined as a essential public service and of a pre-eminent general interest nature, as it is aimed at broadening the participation of citizens and contributing to the social and cultural development of the country in accordance with the principles sanctioned by the Constitution. The service is therefore reserved to the State. Independence, objectivity and openness to various political, social and cultural tendencies, in compliance with the freedoms guaranteed by the Constitution, are fundamental principles of the regulation of the radio and television public service. For the purposes of implementing the purposes referred to in the first paragraph and the principles referred to in the second paragraph, the determination of the general guideline and the exercise of supervision of the radio and television services are the responsibility of the Commission envisaged by the legislative decree of the Capo
Provisional State April 3, 1947, n. 428. Articles 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13 and 14 of the legislative decree of the provisional Head of State no. 428, and the law of 23 August
1949, no. 681.
The Ministry of Posts is no longer the concessionaire of Rai and the Supervisory Commission, referred to in the suppressed law of 49 (which changed the composition of the members to thirty chosen from among deputies and senators) passes to 40 members appointed by the Presidents of the Chamber and Senate. The Concessionaire becomes the Parliament. There are permanent subcommittees, one of which is responsible for access *
The state is responsible for the concession of the entire technical system (means, wires, ether...) and the Government can also grant concessions to other public companies. Parliament establishes the addresses, the real development begins here.
The first, macroscopic effect is therefore the incorporation of Rai 1 into the sphere of influence of the Christian Democrats, of Rai 2 into that of the PSI and of Rai 3 into that of the PCI. Which made Marco Pannella scream 'scandal' several times
In the same period, the general director of RAI Biagio Agnes pilots two command strategies in the port: the zebratura, i.e. a refinement of the more general subdivision, which consists in bringing together within the same structure additional pre-established quotas of Christian Democrats, Socialists, Communists , social democrats, republicans, etc., mixing areas of political affiliation and professionalism; and the total assignment of Rai 3 to the PCI in order to definitively strengthen the political stability of the company and the very presence of the DC in Rai.
But they were very prolific years from a creative point of view, many evening programs were very successful. It could not be said, it could not be shown but everything was said and everything was shown … between the lines. However, political statements remained extremely 'hermetic', sometimes taking on the character of actual coded messages that political leaders sent to each other via cable.
Therefore, what is most interesting here is to examine the system of political communications and parliamentary information in general.
It is the reforms of the House and Senate regulations, starting in 1971, which finally introduce the obligation to publicize parliamentary proceedings in accordance with articles 64 and 72 of the Constitution, through the opening to Rai television broadcasts of live broadcasts from the Chamber.
With the law of 1975 there is a strengthening of political information. In particular, article 22 establishes that the concessionary company (Parliament) is required to disseminate official press releases (considered sources) with explicit declarations of the Presidents of the Chamber and Senate - and also of the other state bodies - by making specific broadcasts proceed. In particular, TV access to parliamentary halls increases public attention towards politics, even if access still requires specific permits and for particular sessions. It is the increased attention of the public that has definitively opened the doors of the palaces.
A bit of history :
In "Public communication" by Roberto Grandi we read: " As documented by Paolo Maggioli, in our peninsula it was the Papal State which was the first to use the press for its own legal communication and propaganda, reaching the point of acquiring a printing house in 1626. Press historians have exhaustively documented how, through censorship and the regime of exclusivity the public power controlled the development of information which, driven by needs above all of a commercial nature, was conveyed with periodical publications, the Gazzettes. It is from a Venetian notice of 1563, put up for sale at a "gazeta" (two-soldier silver coin) from which the title Gazzetta comes, destined for considerable fortune”
To clearly distinguish the role of official spokesperson of public power from that of expression of the interests of civil society, however, we had to wait for 1854, when in the Kingdom of Sardinia the Official Gazette was entrusted with the dissemination of regulatory acts. Until then, the main instrument of communication, both normative and otherwise, of the public power remained the posting which from 1865 (law 20 March 1865, n. 2248) had to take place in the praetorian register also established as a propaganda tool for local government advertising. This propaganda - with considerably more marked and self-referentially more evolved tones - we find it in fascism and in all the activity of the Minculpop which provided for the creation of various Commissions and Entities and professional Registers - such as the ENAC or even the Register of Journalists – for the control of advertising and media forms of attracting popular consent. The evolution of the administrative structure towards public communication in the Italian republican order (as well as the formation of a regional culture) had to deal with what had given birth to fascism: a public information apparatus which in reality it served to transmit and report shreds of reality as the administration wanted them to be apart from the practice of interference in the behavioral sphere of citizens.
Today, as we have seen, all this has been swept away by the citizen's acquisition of a greater awareness of their fundamental rights. The change in 50 years has been enormous: to 90% through regulatory channels, to 60-70% in effectiveness. It is enough just to mention the whole chapter of equal treatment in the workplace where there are still very marked gender differences, and despite the regulatory provisions of article 37 of the constitution on equal pay, and despite the decree on parental leave: Legislative decree no. . 151 of 2001, consolidated text of legislative provisions on the protection and support of maternity and paternity, pursuant to art. 15 of the law n. 53 of 2000. And so on.
– Diachronic development of the network concept. From literary cafés to social networks.
Caught in the net…with digital communication a vast and indefinite horizon opens up
The relational theoretical debate around the relationship between citizens and the State and the consequential standardization and regulation, starts and develops starting from the concept of public opinion, formulated by Habermas around the 1960s. A very interesting examination that goes from the literary cafés of the 19th century, where the new bourgeoisie expressed their personal opinions on topics of general interest, and reaches the present day, up to including, conceptually, the dynamics of modern media such as social networks. Habermas writes "the opinion of all private citizens who make public use of reason, in public places, through publicly accessible media and who discuss, as men, according to a universalistic perspective" is defined as the sphere of public opinion. Today these social exchange relationships are strongly characterized by digital, to the point of being able to define the men and women of the third millennium: the digital generation. And it is clear that in the current era there is a need for laws that clearly define the boundaries that can apply to everyone around telematic communication, its accesses, inclusions and exclusions, its possible distinctions between public and private. But there is a very important fact to note and underline. The little charm that, ironically, digital culture brings with it. I exemplify. Up until the 1960s and 1970s, history, both studied and lived, enjoyed a very particular attraction, made up of content, passion, values, blood shed by men and women who had fought for a ideal or even a simple idea. History was the beating and living heart of the evolution of mankind. Lifeblood. With the advent of technologies and their pervasiveness, from the beginning of the 90s onwards in Italy, history seems to have emptied itself. It has become a sort of multitasking usable when needed. A permanent square. A sort of link to all the rest, and it is not clear what "everything else" is. It has become a daily relational, or a relational daily to which a little screaming voice - without specificity or specialization - has been given by "our" Beppe Grillo, considered a kind of phenomenon and whose fame has gone around the world.
However, the web seems to have removed animosity from our days and seems to have delivered us to a life without "pathos", without experience, made up of images freely taken from the "big brother". Wu Ming writes it in his introduction to "Convergent culture" by Henry Jenkins, among the characteristics of the book (Innovative, Convergent, Interactive, Participatory ...), Ming also mentions "Everyday newspaper", where for newspaper is understood that typical sub-product of our times which is multitasking, precisely: “the state of “continued partial attention” which in Italy is the bete noire of Gentile teachers, parents and intellectuals”.
A type of usability and adaptability of the manistream story to the individual patchwork, where customization is the measure of the degree of specialization and maturity reached by each single individual. ©
Wu Ming continues: "Few admit that it is a necessary skill to deal with the new environment: maintaining widespread and "low intensity" attention on a multiplicity of stimuli, and then focusing it at high intensity when one of these stimuli changes in a meaningful way, that is, it warns us to "pay more attention". Multitasking should be taught to those who don't have it in their blood, not burned at the stake. Unfortunately, witch hunts are always open and well paid for us"
But returning to the present day, all this development has meant that public opinion has become increasingly aware and increasingly demanding.
The driving force behind the diffusion of institutional communication towards and to the public comes from Law 241 of 1990, which directs the public administration to the principles of transparency and the obligation of publicity. A law that will arrive at 150 of 7 June 2000 which stresses the centrality of the training of journalists for the Press Offices and Relations Offices. Parliament adapts and Rai too, even if they haven't yet managed to complete that fae of informational awareness that information technology brings with it. This acquisition takes place with the XII legislature. The House and the Senate open online sites, as do many other central and local institutions.
In 2013, social networks became the preferred platforms for institutional communications and for Rai itself. Twitter and Facebook are the driving forces of political and service communication that travels on the web side by side with citizens, and snatches information from them and directs knowledge to them.
Today the situation sees increased online advertising of parliamentary work and a huge increase in Rai television channels that travel in bits and live steaming, to be seen and reviewed and to participate. The television user is no longer passive but integrated into the communication system itself.
The result is that there are at least two twitter accounts for the Senate and at least 7/8 for Montecitorio, two Youtube channels in the Senate and as many for Montecitorio. Not to mention Rai's Twitter and Facebook accounts, which also diversified on social networks, on digital terrestrial and on the Sky platform in streams of programs for immediate participation.
There are many institutional pages. I won't stay long due to time constraints.
Just for one example, the official Senate Twitter account recorded in one month: 202 tweets, 521,000 views, 14,700 profile visits, 2,574 mentions, 3,407 new followers. While the Rai News 24 twitter account records 142,000 tweets and 717,000 followers
Communication has already changed and has taken over the laws. It is no longer the legislator who regulates everyday life but it is the citizen user who creates obligations and behavioral norms even if the political communication And of service they are becoming more and more specialized
