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who are consulting government and candidates having specific skills in advertising,
polling, news management, etc. and who mostly work for clients who are not in the
field of politics. Up to now in Italy, the definition of ‘marketers’ identifies essentially a
basic technical support involved in the production of posters, pictures, leaflets, etc.Even
if they represent a minority, there are also marketers with more elaborated and specific
skills, such as pollsters, advertisers, journalists, who support candidates, party
headquarters and government, and who limit their involvement in politics either just to
the moment of campaigning or when asked for particular commitments.

On the other hand, there are professionals with a stronger political background. They
come from politics, they have passed through some sort of political experience, either
within the party organisation (as in the case of D’Alema’s assistants) or within less
institutionalised political movements. They also have some sort of mass media
experience or some sort of connections with this field. Mixing together these two kinds
of experience, they start their own private professional activity or establish their own
firm in the field of communication: polling, public relations, etc. Generally these are
young people with up-to-date skills that do not exist within the traditional party
organisation.These people try to give the candidates strategic advice that goes beyond
the narrow period of campaigning or of government. Although they overlap with the
world of politics, it gives them neither a high level of autonomy nor a capacity for self-
regulation.The definition of ‘traditional politicos’(Farrel, Kolodny & Medvic, 2001) seems
appropriate for this group.

Because of the changes to the electoral system in Italy, and because of the more
general process of secularisation that gives the mass media system more important
communication functions, we can suggest that in the future both candidates and
The Professionalisation of Political Communication
parties will need more support from external professionals. The weakening of party
structures, together with the new technological side of the campaign (essentially the
Internet), will push further this requirement, making the political communication
professions more developed and complete.

NOTES
1. Source:Istcattaneo.org
2. A dramatic symbolic indicator of the diminished importance of the party apparatus occurred
when the Democratici di Sinistra (the new name of the ex-Communist Party) was forced to
leave their traditional office, Botteghe oscure, as the building was too large and too expensive
for the new,lean organisation of the party.
3. It is important to stress that both in 1996 and 2000, Forza Italia obtained 30% of the national
vote and therefore a coalition with other parties was needed to form the government.
4. In 2001 he used a different pollster than he had previously: Luigi Crespi, who came from the
world of pollsters and whom Berlusconi had already used on previous occasions.
5. A questionnaire has been sent in autumn 2002 to all the elected members of the Italian
Parliament (both the Senate and the House of Deputies). 40% of the questionnaires have
been returned
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