The mediatization of states of emergency in Italy and the Federal Republic of Germany. Security speech and terrorist emergency in the media (1968 and 1980)

The mediatization of emergency of armed political violence in Italy and the Federal Republic of Germany in the 1970s is still a neglected topic in the historiographical field of Italian-German studies. The purpose of press and of public service broadcasting facing disruptive events, such as attacks of various kinds and nature, is to inform public opinion through news, images and sounds. The tension between freedom of information in public service (mostly Radio and Television) and the construction of a security discourse in situations of terrorist emergency is staged mainly in the mass media (Press, Radio and Television) entering into the homes of millions of people. How did the media contribute to the social construction of a state of emergency in the public sphere during the 1970s? Does the analysis of media narratives in times of crisis in both countries and in a comparative perspective allow us to investigate the media as an object and subject of conflict and political clash? What role have journalists (i.e. Italian and German Radio and Television correspondents abroad) played in narrating, representing and conveying national and transnational emergency imagery in both countries?

Researcher: Laura Di Fabio