ABSTRACT
This chapter examines political communication which is a predominant ambit of communication in the public sphere and defined on the basis of content or the persons involved. It analyses the results of a rather vast body of empirical investigation carried out in Italy with theoretical methods of comparative investigation. The chapter begins with a description of several characteristics of the Italian political system that are assumed as constants, that is as parameters, for illustrating the workings of the public sphere in relation to them and for comparing different national situations. It suggests that as constants the structures of the relationships between the political system and the mass media, according to the explanatory model suggested by J. Blumler and M. Gurevitch, in order to have the first comparative instrument. The coexistence of publicservice broadcasting and a commercial press is a characteristic of many European countries.
