The flows and the flood: the public discourse on immigration in Italy, 1969–2001

Since the start of the debate on immigration in Italy there has been considerable interest in analysing the ways in which the public discourse on immigration has changed over time. This article examines the changes that have taken place in the period from 1969 to 2001. It is based on systematic study of the principal weekly news magazines (1969–1981) and on the daily press (1982–2001). It demonstrates significant changes in the ways in which immigrants have been portrayed and in the situations with which they are associated. These changes do not correspond with assumptions that continue to prevail in much of the press coverage. The study indicates that the key interpretative themes in the debate were evident prior to the mid-1970s, but that the politicization of the immigrant question in the period 1989–1990 critically changed the terms of public discourse. While the press is highly selective in the way these issues are presented, this has little to do with the criminalization of the immigrants (a theme on which most of the research on immigration has focused) but is more closely linked with the lack of transparency that continues to surround the participation of foreign workers in the Italian economy.