CRISIS, INNOVATION AND THE CULTURAL INDUSTRY IN ITALY

The essay aims to highlight the complex theme of media relations and crisis within the history of\r\nthe Italian media system. The perspective used here makes possible a new periodization of the national\r\nmedia system, one that goes beyond the monomedial perspectives that are largely prevalent\r\ntoday. Starting from economic data and social analysis, the essay argues that the country has been\r\nin a substantial crisis for many years, before then revealing how the crisis, in these long years, has\r\nat times functioned as a depressive element in the media system, and others fostering innovations\r\nin the system, favouring the rise of new content and forms of consumption (for example, with the\r\nexplosion of private broadcasting, or the advent of social media and the emergence of connective\r\nmedia, as mentioned in earlier contributions).