Televisione e pubblici tra passato, presente e futuro

Abstract

This paper aims to study the relationship between the viewing public and the different ages of television. With this objective in mind, it was essential to conduct a historical and diachronic survey which, thanks to the contributions of Menduni and Ortoleva, could grasp the relationship between the main television ages (paleo-TV and neo-TV) and the changes in Italian society. In order to understand the definitive breakthrough of the multi-TV scenario, the subsequent mixing and hybridization of television and the Internet (web TV, broadband TV, YouTube, etc.) and the active role of the viewing public (prosumerism), it is necessary to define the concept of digital convergence starting from the contributions of an author like Henry Jenkins. Before entering into the empirical phase of the study, it is appropriate to attempt to give a definition of the concept of generation, starting from the classic contributions (Mannheimer, Bourdieu and Donati) and later widening the focus to include studies related to the sociology of communication, and in particular to the contributions of Aroldi and Colombo. These theoretical studies are needed to better focus on the object in question, namely the analysis of television viewers divided into age cohorts, and then to investigate the genesis and development of cultural consumption in Italy. The investigation goes on to focus on the scenario of cultural and media consumption in recent years (corroborated by ISTAT and Censis reports) and subsequently on the relationship between television and the viewing public from the second world war to today, by means of data from Auditel, Servizio Opinioni and Istat... [edited by author]