Media and Politics in Contemporary Italy is the first book to provide a comprehensive examination of the media system in Italy during the last twenty years. Seeing the rise of new political actors and the growing role of the Internet and social media, the general elections of February 2013 have symbolically closed a twenty-year period of Italian history dominated by Silvio Berlusconi politically and by television as channel of political communication. The analysis focuses on change and continuity with past media structures, cultures and practices, and considers the "Berlusconi factor," namely the impact of one man on the country's media system, journalism, and political communication.

Current trends of globalization have influenced the social, economic, and political framework of national media worldwide. In recent years, the field of media studies has focused on globalization as a phenomenon that has greatly impacted the production and reception of media formats. By reshaping local economies, diversifying societies, and introducing digital technologies, the globalization of media has enacted a process of re-definition of national and local broadcasting. Beyond Monopoly: Globalization and Contemporary Italian Media examines the impact of globalization on contemporary Italian media. By engaging both the production and reception levels of different media, this volume assesses the extent to which Italian media have been part of current trends of media flows and have responded to the centrifugal and centripetal forces of globalization. The contributors to this edited volume touch upon a wide diversity of issues, such as foreign ownership on Satellite TV, the effects of digital technology on media policy making, and the framing of "Otherness" in the news. Beyond Monopoly provides a unique case study of the complexity of national media in the era of globalization that will appeal to students as well as scholars of global and national media systems.