Seventy Years of Television in Italy – Three Anniversaries in One
The entire television industry in Italy is celebrating, and – as is the case around the world – remains in good shape. Of the 70 years it carries on its shoulders – a few less than in other important markets, such as the UK and US – it has spent 50 years at the center of public debate and the collective imagination, holding on to its position as the country's leading cultural industry with its extraordinary ability to inform, entertain, educate and persuade. Additionally, it imposes its languages and mechanisms on the ways of the world; Edmondo Berselli in 2008 wondered “if contemporary democracy was closer to a format [on television, NdA] than to a structured set of rules”. On its 50th anniversary, however, dark clouds appeared on the horizon, and the 2000s were ushered in under a shadow of some concern – digital disruption had become a serious matter.