The shapes of an issue. Immigration in the arena of the Italian quality papers

The aim of the survey presented in this article is to analyse the transformation process of the issue of immigration in the Italian quality papers. This purpose is pursued through the comparison of two six-month samples in 2008 and 2014, including articles from the Corriere della Sera and la Repubblica. In the first part, some main theoretical problems are dealt with, in order to illustrate the research design. The analysis of the sub-issues shows that the thematic composition of the immigration is sensitive to the interactions that take place in the quality papers arena: the traditional political actors are contrasted by a significant standing of those belonging to the civil society (in 2008) and those within the European Union and international arena (in 2014); as a consequence, the sub-issue of «racism and right defence» contends and prevails on the «securitarian» sub-issue. From Multiple Correspondence Analysis, three main factors emerge which synthesize different discursive structures in the immigration coverage. Particularly important is the possibility of interpreting the factors from a semantic point of view: this allows to link the «advocacy strategy» of la Repubblica with the domestic arena and with the civil society actors (societalization); and, on the opposite side, the «neutrality strategy» of Corriere della Sera with the EU and the actors who play a relevant role in the international arena (de-domestication).