Candidates in a negative light. The 2013 Italian Election Campaign in the Media

This article investigates the relationship between politics, media and public opinion, during the 2013 Italian general election. News coverage on TV and national daily press are analysed in relation to voters' opinions. Considering the last 40 days before the election, three aspects are explored: (a) the specific features of the 2013 election campaign; (b) the tone of coverage of the candidates campaign on newscasts (Tg1, Tg5, La7 and SkyTg24 evening news) and daily press («Corriere della Sera», «la Repubblica», «La Stampa», «Il Giornale»); (c) the trends in leaders evaluation across the campaign. Taking public opinion data from the Itanes surveys and combining them with a content analysis of the newspapers and television newscasts, this research aims at assessing the (in)congruence between media coverage and voters' attitudes.