Page 123 - The Professionalisation of Political Communication Chaning Media, Changing Europe Volume 3

Political Communication.qxd 5/1/07 15:06 Page 122
Political Communication.qxd 12/7/06 7:30 pm Page 120

120 | THE PROFESSIONALISM OF POLITICAL COMMUNICATION

In many ways, Alleanza Nazionale constitutes ‘a surprise’ in respect of its great use of
external professionals: this is a party with a well established and diffused party
structure and with its own political culture that privileges the most traditional ways of
contact between party and voters (e.g. personal relations, party meetings, etc.).
Nevertheless, from our data, candidates of Alleanza Nazionale seem very open to new
ways of campaigning. La Margherita is a newly established party with a lean
organisation,made up of people coming from different cultural areas.

Of all the parties, Lega Nord is the one which has made least use of external
professionals. Lega Nord mainly operates in the northern regions of Italy and is a party
that has a very ramified and complex structure of branches, with a widespread network
of interpersonal communication able to reach all the voters of that particular area. In
many respects, Lega Nord has inherited the old practices of the traditional mass parties
linked, in its case, to local environments, and, because of these reasons, does not appear
to need to turn to professionals external to the party structure.

IS THERE AN ITALIAN POLITICAL COMMUNICATION PROFESSIONALISM?
The data that has been discussed shows a poor level of professionalism in political
communication in Italy.It appears to be so both in terms of its content and in respect of
its role within the election campaign. At least this is the image that emerges, looking at
the support that elected members of the Parliament have obtained from professionals
outside the party structure.

This conclusion, taken together with the earlier discussion in this chapter of what was
referred to as the ‘Berlusconi professionalism’, suggests that what one observes is a high
level of professionalisation mainly at the level of party headquarters and a poor level
The Professionalisation of Political Communication
when one observes the local campaigns of single candidates. It seems, therefore,
possible to talk of two main elements of professionalism. The first one refers to what
can be defined as a ‘culture of marketing’approach to politics that is linked to the use of
specific practices, such as survey research and centralisation of the campaign, that
implies specific professional competencies coming from outside politics. This culture,
and the connected use of professionals, mainly concerns the parties’ headquarters and
government. Berlusconi’s experience has been of great importance in introducing this
sort of approach to politics, but the other parties have also started to look for the
support of pollsters to understand what citizens think and wish. In the meantime they
need the support of other professionals (essentially advertisers) to package their
message. The use of these professionals is particularly evident during the election
period, when the new way of campaigning imposes a high level of centralisation of all
decisions. Campaigning implies also a framework of connections with the news media
that is evident when parties or candidates reach government positions.This first kind of
professionalism exists as the entire party machine, mainly during election campaigns,
takes advantage of a more professionalised attitude, focused essentially on
centralisation and a marketing approach that is brought about by the involvement of
122