Why Berlusconi did not lose votes in spite of sexual scandal media frenzy
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Zinedine Zidane is a French soccer star. Known for his elegance and fair play, he was sent off in the very last minute of a World Championship final for an off-the-ball head-butt of an Italian player.
The symbol of the National team, the captain, one of the best football players ever was not there when the high time of penalty kicks came. And France lost the game. Nevertheless he has been forgiven and understood by the French public opinion.
What does this story have to do with Italian politician Silvio Berlusconi?
The campaign for European elections in Italy has been characterised by the discussion around a series of extra-political events involving Premier Silvio Berlusconi (namely the Noemigate sexual scandal).
The coverage of these events gained increasing importance in the Italian and international media environment. European issues virtually disappeared from the media agenda and the sexual scandals of the “Cavaliere” took its place.
Various observers estimated that this would affect the career of the politician Berlusconi. However, the results of the election showed little changes if compared to the tremendous political victory of the previous year.
The ebook “The stuff that dreams are made of” intends to explain why Berlusconi’s popularity and electoral results did not suffer from the sexual scandal media coverage.
Here it is, it’s a free PDF.
The essay approaches the issue from a communication perspective, however it overcomes the conventional distinction among disciplines and takes into account the findings of different traditions: from Media Studies to Philosophy, from Sociology to Film Studies.
The solution to the case lies in a double parallelism. What do Berlusconi and Zidane have in common? And what links the Italian politician-tycoon to Hollywood star Humphrey Bogart?
PS – If you know someone who can benefit from reading the ebook, please forward this on to them immediately.
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