Se si ripensa alla primavera dell'anno scorso, all'indomani del referendum che aprì la strada alla nuova legge elettorale, è difficile non rimanere colpiti dalla quantità e dall'intensità delle aspettative di cambiamento presenti nell'opinione pubblica, almeno per come esse venivano riflesse dai mass media.

This paper deals with the electoral platforms of the major parties in the recent election, the role of the newspapers in shaping the campaign issues and the amount of political information broadcasted by the television system. Analysis of the parties’ programs shows, first of all, a general decline of ideology, except in the case of the neo-communist party (Rifondazione comunista). Contrary to the convergence of the economic and the moral issues between the parties in the post-war elections, in the recent campaign emerged a sharp division on the social and economic policy issues. Pds and Ppi (former Dc) valued positively the role of the market and of the private firms in the economic recovery, but stressed the market failure in providing social security for the less advantaged social strata. At the opposite Forza Italia and Lega Nord argued for a market oriented reform of the welfare system. The division line, however, did not separate the centre-right winning coalition from the centre and left parties. The platform of Alleanza Nazionale, which included the post-fascist Msi, was on the economic and welfare issues more anti-market than the Pds's and Ppi's ones. Also on other policy issues the division between the coalitions were not clearly cut. The electoral campaign was characterised by several political issues. The most important ones were the anti-communist, the anti-parties and the anti-establishment appeals of the centre-right coalition. The coverage of the campaign by the national newspapers was centered on the political issues more than on the policy ones. At the local level, however, more attention was given to the policy issues and to the candidates’ profile, as emerged from an analysis of some local newspapers. The same analysis confirmed the traditional cultural difference between North and South. Finally the coverage of the electoral campaign by the television system was wider than in the 1992 and 1987 political elections. The private televisions owned by Mr. Berlusconi dedicated more time to political information than the public television, particularly in the month before the standard four-week electoral campaign. There is some evidence that the private television gave in this period a decisive momentum to Forza Italia, the movement created by Mr. Berlusconi.