In 1937, dictator Benito Mussolini founded the MinCulPop – the ministry for popular culture – a governmental propaganda office, with the clear purpose of controlling media and spreading the government's official version of facts.
MinCulPop was responsible for selecting the news that could be reported nationwide, and for filing the articles and dispatches sent to newsrooms and radio stations. It was a way for the Duce to impose a positive vision of the country, hiding factual truths. Mussolini believed that all bad news needed to be prevented and that Italy should be depicted as a happy, florid country. The word propaganda was very carefully avoided and so were news items that could shed a negative light on Italy. No great surprise for a fascist dictatorship.
Seventy-two years after the foundation of MinCulPop, Italy has announced the 21st century version of it. Presented as a special body to enhance the image of Italy, the new governmental office will be responsible for spreading good news about the country. It is needed – the government says – for commercial reasons. Italy must counter the relentlessly negative world media reports about Silvio Berlusconi and his politics, because they damage Italian business. Tourism is suffering from the continuous press attacks and swift action is needed in order to stop foreigners deserting Italy as a holiday destination.
As a tourism matter, it fell to the tourism minister, Michela Vittoria Brambilla, to launch the new taskforce, which will be made up of a group of young journalists and communications experts with two duties: to monitor foreign press everywhere in the world, "from Japan to Peru", and "to bombard those newsrooms with truthful and positive news". This is the shape of the new anti-denigration unit – which could be mischievously defined as a propaganda department – beginning operation next month.
Even if it does look like propaganda, the tourism minister reassures us that it's not. "This is not a government bulletin. We'll tell facts. We may stress some government initiatives, if it's appropriate. But above all, we'll let the world know about a generous, truthful and audacious Italy – the Italy of entrepreneurs, art, cultural events and our products". She added that there will be a special section within the taskforce that will provide press articles, internet material and visual content.
This all comes as no surprise after the recent criticism the prime minister made of a foreign press that, according to him, is acting against Italy and damaging not only him but the country as well. And it's no surprise that Berlusconi wants to counteract attacks coming now from almost every corner of the world.
The prime minister made his point again during the Monza and Brianza business conference: "Those who discredit Italy also damage Italian products and companies. Entrepreneurs should rebel against such anti-Italian action".
Brambilla limited herself just to giving shape to Berlusconi's ideas. Foreign newsrooms must be filled with tales about Italian success, leaving no room for bad news or criticism. But don't worry – this has nothing to do with propaganda. It doesn't look like a revival of MinCulPop at all. No, it's just a way to boost tourism.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/libertycentral/2009/oct/13/silvio-berlusconi-propaganda-unit
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