Diversity in Italian Newsrooms: An American Perspective

Over the course of my time abroad in Italy I’ve had the opportunity to study journalism and step into Italian newsrooms much different than the ones I’m used to. Italian newsrooms are dominated by white men. While news is consumed by every race and gender in Italy, it is told predominantly in a linear fashion by those who experience the world in a singular way.

Conversations around representation and inequality are not new but have only recently come into the consciousness of those in power due to widespread protests following mass demonstrations of injustice. This is especially true in America, where in 2020 institutions were plagued with protests highlighting their injustices and dark secrets were brought to light about the systemic racism woven into the fabric of American life. In this time, countries across the world were forced into reflection about their own cultural composition and the impact on their citizens.

The world is marred by dark histories of colonization and racism that many countries are built upon. While many nations across the world are having difficult conversations about these mass injustices, Italy has uniquely avoided approaching these topics. This is not always due to negligence, but a willful ignorance in terms of data.

The Italian government refuses to recognize minorities in the census and civil rights depend on one’s blood lineage which offers more protections to those who have multi-generational families in Italy. These injustices alone make it difficult to determine the statistics on diversity in the newsroom in comparison with the people they are reporting to. It also offers preferential treatment to white people who have been in Italy for decades. 

Italy recently welcomed a new Prime Minister, Giorgia Meloni, who comes from a far-right party that openly advocates against freedom of the press going so far as to spread conspiracies and misinformation about important topics like vaccine hesitancy and immigration. These ideals prevent the press from being examined and criticized in any meaningful capacity which shifts the focus on to conspiracies as opposed to issues in diversity measures.

The statistics around Italian media representation are lacking and if anything, are anecdotal. While other countries are not better, they are at least having conversations surrounding these issues. For example, the Pew Research Center surveyed 12,000 American journalists and found that newsrooms were disproportionately supported by white straight men in a slightly higher socioeconomic status. Germany and France have done similar studies and found mirrored results.

According to the Italian National Institute of Statistics, as of 2021, “foreigners make up 8.4% of the population,” which aligns with the average of most EU countries. That being said, many other European nations have made strides to reconcile with their dark histories and make equal representation normal, especially in their newsrooms. With 8.4% of the population made up of other races, Italy is not lacking in terms of talented people who have a unique perspective on the news being told; newsrooms are lacking the willingness to seek out that representation.

In Italian media, there is little to no data or statistics delving into matters of diversity, because there is no concern.

 Italian newsrooms don’t seem to be having these conversations and if they are, they are whispered.