The original version of this article was published in Italian by the same author on 1 July 2025.
Alessio Cornia, Associate Professor at Dublin City University and Research Associate at the Reuters Institute since 2016, led the second edition of the Digital News Report Italia 2025, produced in collaboration with the Journalism Master’s programme in Turin.
The findings highlight several enduring features of Italy’s news landscape — most notably the central role of television — while also tracing the evolution of a rapidly changing media environment.
Unlike English-speaking countries with a strong press tradition, where quality journalism coexists with distinct tabloid markets, Italian newspapers were, as Cornia told Mediatrends, “created for an elite readership and written in complex language. As Enzo Forcella used to say, he always wrote for about 150 readers — the ministers of the day and their aides.”
For these and other reasons, Cornia considers Italy a compelling “case study” — from its 20th-century history to its current media habits — and chose to lead the first Italian-focused edition of the Reuters Institute report.
Why was this so important to you, Professor?
Many other countries already have dedicated editions of the global report, which I’ve contributed to for nearly a decade. I’ve always seen Italy as a fascinating research lab — full of peculiarities and contradictions. In many cases, national teams apply the Reuters method to analyse their own data. I wanted the same privileged perspective for Italy: to apply the Reuters Institute’s lens to our context, combining academic rigour with an accessible approach.
What did you discover about Italy’s journalism system?
As expected, our media system still bears the imprint of a past dominated by television. But Italy has always had a relatively low newspaper readership — print circulation has remained especially limited, even when compared with countries where television consumption is just as high.
Is this low circulation linked to literacy rates?
Not only that. Of course, low traditional literacy goes hand in hand with low media literacy — but newspapers have played their part too. They were designed for an elite audience, looked down on US-style tabloids, and used highly complex language. As Enzo Forcella once said, he wrote for just 150 readers: the ministers and their aides.
So, is this close tie between media and politics a distinctly Italian feature?
Italian journalism has always been strongly partisan, because having a voice in political debate was seen as valuable. Regardless of editorial line, journalists have long felt both the desire and the duty to influence politics — to push for change in line with their own ideological and subjective views..
What are the consequences of such partisan journalism?
It clearly leads to lower public trust in journalism, which is often perceived as polarised or biased. As a result, revenues are limited and the press is in constant need of external support — such as state funding — all within an environment already shaped by patronage and a lack of universal principles..
But quoting Pietro Scoppola — are we no longer the “Republic of Parties”? Haven’t things changed?
The Silvio Berlusconi phenomenon didn’t emerge in a vacuum. Today we see figures like Antonio Angelucci — yet another businessman entering the media arena to buy up newspapers, fully aware they won’t turn a profit. They do it because the real stakes lie elsewhere: journalism enables what you might call “Italian-style lobbying.” So we’re still very much in the era of what’s often referred to as impure publishing.
Does this drive readers away, especially from political news?
Today’s situation reflects both low trust and declining interest. In 2016 — not so long ago — 74% of respondents said they were extremely or very interested in the news. By 2025, that number has dropped to 39%. Every outlet has seen its audience shrink, whether online or in print — even those designed to reach wider audiences through simpler language.
There are, of course, exceptions.
The Digital News Report Italia highlights Fanpage, a native digital outlet, and Il Post as notable cases. Il Post, in particular, reaches up to 11% of the under-35 audience — a figure that drops to 6% among the general population. It’s a noteworthy example: the outlet has embraced a membership model that is proving effective. It’s also known for its in-depth explainers — every article is fully contextualised and accessible to a broad readership. While it leans progressive, it avoids any extreme ideological positioning.
Interest in political news in Italy. Source: Digital News Report Italia 2025.
Staying with these successful case studies, would you say Will Media – now part of Chora News and officially registered as a news outlet – is doing journalism?
Will Media is interesting – much like Il Post – because it’s successful with younger audiences, precisely the demographic traditional newspapers struggle to reach. Its content is distributed across multiple platforms, proving that the old mantra – take the news to where the users already are, which people were talking about as early as 2015 — still holds true. Will Media also relies on journalists whose faces become familiar, building trust within a format that blends news and entertainment. But I’ll repeat: its impact among audiences over 35 is negligible.
But the Cairo and GEDI groups, for example, account for 34% of annual newspaper sales. Isn’t that a good result?
It is — but keep in mind that only one in ten people say they read these newspapers weekly. And going back to those earlier examples, just 9% of respondents report having a digital news membership.
Is that because they are still too difficult to read?
There are many reasons why people feel distanced from traditional, mainstream journalism. The model is under strain, and publishers are still trying to adapt — sometimes by returning to a clearer editorial line, as La Repubblica has done, or by toning down sensationalist headlines, as noted in the Digital News Report Italia. But it’s not all on the publishers. In Italy, media literacy initiatives are far less common than in other countries. We have many young people — and not only young people — with solid educational backgrounds, yet participation in these initiatives remains very low.
News sources used in the past week. Source: Digital News Report Italia 2025.
That is not a good sign.
The media landscape is changing at extraordinary speed — just look at what’s happened with content moderation.
Are you talking about fact-checking?
Not exactly. I’m referring to the moderation guidelines for content on online platforms. Many of my colleagues work in this field, and they’ve seen their methods completely reshaped by the decisions of platform owners. As a result, they’ve observed a rise in offensive and harmful content, cyberbullying, and fake news.
Has the President of the United States, Donald Trump, played a role in this?
First of all, there’s the cost-cutting factor — moderation teams have been drastically reduced. Then there’s a new ideological climate at play, but it’s not just an American issue.
And what about American journalism — is it healthy?
Until about fifteen years ago, the world’s leading journalism schools were in the United States. The watchdog model — journalism as a guardian of democracy — became a global benchmark for its objectivity and distance from political sides. But the system began to shift well before Trump.
In 2020 you published an article measuring how polarised the audiences of news outlets are in different countries. What did you find out?
Precisely that the United States had — by far — the most polarised media system, despite the distinctive features of its journalism.
Many of today’s biggest media phenomena come straight from America. I am thinking of all the commentators moving to Substack, or vodcasters like Joe Rogan. Is this the new frontier of international news?
Substack and vodcasts are, like Will Media, forms of distributed news — that’s why they work. They also anchor every piece of content to a strong sense of personality. If I had to bet on someone in Italy who could succeed with a model similar to Rogan’s, I’d say Selvaggia Lucarelli: she’s doing something very commercial, with a more TV-style approach — but it works.
Level of trust in news from journalistic outlets in Italy. Source: Digital News Report Italia 2025.
Is there a rule for success?
Some will succeed, others won’t — it’s impossible to predict. That’s why newspapers shouldn’t rely too heavily on any supposed magic formula. They need to carefully weigh the real costs and returns of investing in high-profile personalities. A single figure can’t justify employing an entire editorial team just to produce their content. And in any case, the goal should be to bring audiences closer to the broader editorial platform — but the risk is that people end up following the personality, not the outlet behind them.
News of deals between major outlets and AI companies keeps coming out of the US. Should we be preparing to follow suit here too — or can we reassure publishers?
AI can be used in more or less responsible ways — and some of these applications aren’t new. France Télévisions was already using AI a decade ago to target local news audiences: if you lived in a specific Paris neighbourhood, you’d see stories relevant to your area, complete with comments and opinions. There are certainly risks, but also opportunities across the communications sector. Much will depend on the kind of relationship publishers manage to build with tech companies — though these companies have little incentive to sit at the table, either politically or with smaller players.
US podcaster viewership by age group in the week preceding the interview. Source: Digital News Report 2025.
And as if that were not enough, there are also legal questions around Google Search and what it means for traffic to news sites.
I’ll leave the legal side to the lawyers — but it’s a real concern, because it eats away at traffic that’s already fragile. Publishers will have to rely less and less on advertising, and more and more on subscriptions.
Any advice for the journalists of the future?
Seen systemically, they’ll have to navigate extreme fragmentation — a landscape of countless sources, each targeting niche audiences. Journalists will face highly personal, one-to-one trust relationships in an increasingly polarised, hyper-targeted media environment. The key will be to uphold rigorous professional standards: showing the method behind the sourcing, the research process, the depth — and the command of the subject.
What about your own media diet?
In the morning I read the BBC, The New York Times, La Repubblica, and TheJournal.ie. I watch an Irish news channel on TV, I listen to Radio Rai, and I follow very few podcasts. I’ll admit, I used to set aside an hour every morning just to read the news. Then family life and work got in the way — and now I feel less informed. I scroll through news during the day, online, and sometimes talk with colleagues about what’s going on, but honestly, I feel like I’m missing things. Without that morning routine, my understanding is only partial.
