Mapping Italian news in the lead-up of 2018 general election

University of Urbino Carlo Bo conducted an in-depth analysis of news coverage and social network in the lead-up to the Italian general election. Diving into the contents of media coverage and social media engagement, the project Mapping Italian News sheds light on the main topics and stories that drove media attention.

The research is based on the analysis of 84,815 news articles on Italian politics published between September 1, 2017, and March 4, 2018, and on the related volume of Facebook interactions. The data highlights the role and influence of media and social media, different patterns of activity from supporters of different Italian parties, mobilizing topics, as well as the structure and patterns of partisan attention.

Results of the monitoring activity are provided as Open Data as well as HTML tables on the 25 leading URLs by total engagement, 25 top news-stories and top 25 media sources by average volume of Facebook interactions. The results of the research are presented in a narrative form in the final report.