Web Challenges to Berlusconi: An Analysis of Oppositional Sites

Since Silvio Berlusconi became a central player in Italian politics, media ownership and the control of public information have turned into a lively political battlefield . Within this scenario, the internet is acquiring a significant role as an oppositional terrain, both on a symbolic level, as a medium open to bottom-up initiatives, user control, and peer-to-peer relationships, and on a practical level, as a public space less affected by direct and indirect censorship, less colonized by business, and uncontrolled by Berlusconi. Institutional actors, however, have not been particularly active online (Bentivegna 2002: 112-20; 2006: 36-67). This is hardly surprising given the historical elective affinities between the mainstream media and politics in Italy (Mancini 2002: 15-57; Mazzoleni 2000: 159-61; Murialdi 2006: 269-302, 311-2): the parliamentary opposition to Berlusconi could rely on newspapers and visibility on television to voice its contentions. Furthermore, the diffusion of internet technology and its use in Italy has lagged behind most European countries. Moreover, various inequalities in internet access, frequency of use, and computer literacy persist between men and women, more and less educated citizens, younger and older generations, and Northern and Southern parts of the country (Sartori 2006). The relatively low level of internet penetration and the fact that the online public is still quite unrepresentative of the voting population has probably reduced the incentives for parties to invest in the new media. Seen through the logic of modern campaigning, the internet lacks the mass-scale, catch-all potential that Italian parties have increasingly come to depend on for delivering their messages. Just as, in general, social movements tend to embrace the internet more wholeheartedly than parties (Bentivegna 2002: 66-96), online challenges to Berlusconi were mostly conducted by non-institutional political actors and movements. These subjects could not rely on the same mass-media resources as parties and could only afford to target narrower publics, as they embraced more specific causes and generated more limited endeavours than institutional actors. As is typical of the medium’s non-hierarchical, decentralized milieu, a plethora of oppositional websites and initiatives came into being, often as independent ventures by individuals or small groups. There was little coordination among these efforts and the sites achieved varying degrees of success. In order to comprehend the features and dynamics of such a complex scenario, this chapter presents the results of case-study research designed to (a) describe the most relevant aspects of online challenges to Berlusconi and (b) explain which factors were related to the success of web-based oppositional efforts. The most effective web challenges to Berlusconi founded their success on the combination of instrumental, bottom-up organizational platforms that bridged the chasm between online and offline political action, and expressive, emotionally laden styles that transcended the conventional canons of political communication. The outlook for internet-based political mobilization will depend on how this formula will be recognized, acted upon, and renewed by social and political entrepreneurs. For the same reasons, however, whether the parliamentary opposition to Berlusconi will be willing and able to establish a strong presence in, and fruitful connections with, this new political battlefield remains an open question.