The Crisis of 1992–1994 and the Reform of Italian Public Broadcasting

Abstract

Many Italian institutions deteriorated in the 1980s as the struggle to consolidate and extend party influence led to the spoils system (lottizzazione) becoming the norm throughout virtually the whole of the public sector. Yet perhaps none was more affected than the public broadcasting company RAI. Once an organization with a strong corporate identity and sense of mission, it lost its sense of purpose as it faced the unprecedented challenge of competition from an unregulated private sector and simultaneously became a resource in the unceasing battle for position between parties and factions. By the early 1990s RAI's credibility had declined dramatically, it was riddled with debts, it lacked a strategy, and it was faring badly in the ratings. Yet the full extent of its crisis was revealed only with the collapse of the parties that had for so long ‘protected’ it from serious scrutiny and genuine public accountability.