Berlusconi, the Media, and the New Right in Italy

Abstract

In March 1994, the Italian electorate voted to power an alliance of parties of the New Right that had never been in office before: Forza Italia, the Alleanza Nazionale, and the Lega Nord. Silvio Berlusconi, the leader of Forza Italia, became the prime minister but retained a monopoly holding of national television and media resources, and Gianfranco Fini's Alleanza Nazionale became the first political party with a fascist heritage to assume governmental office in postwar Europe. This article examines how the control and use of communications resources has contributed to making Forza Italia and the Alleanza Nazionale members of the political establishment of the Italian Second Republic.