The Italian Media Coverage of the EU in 1999 : A Distracted Framing of Political Reality

In this paper the Italian section of the international research on media coverage of the EU in the 1999 European elections is presented. The monitoring of Italian media coverage in 1999 has showed a strong national political and media space, and a very weak European one: the Italian media coverage and political debate had a “domestic” quality, and some important national events darkened the European issues. Nevertheless, the Kosovo war and the eventual peace process was an important issue for it was a good occasion for reporters and commentators to connect some European issues with it, thus creating a link between the Kosovo crisis and other European problems, such as the European Parliament elections.