Italy: a highly regulated system in search of equality

Developed by researchers from the Euromedia Research Group in partnership with colleagues from other institutions around the world, the Media for Democracy Monitor provides a monitoring instrument to empirically assess and compare the performance of leading news media in contemporary, stable democracies by surveying their structures of production and distribution, and ownership and governance. By connecting the journalistic roles and the democratic dimensions, the MDM finds a full-fledged theoretical framework that allows the assessment of the contribution of news media to democracy. Focusing on the state of health of the media in Italy, the chapter "Italy. A highly regulated system in search of equality" is part of this project. Research and most of the field work for the 2021 edition of the MDM has been conducted shortly before the outbreak of the global Covid-19 pandemic. The findings reflect, therefore, flaws and achievements of leading news media during the recovery years after the 2008 financial market crash and before the Covid-19 crash hit them.