Media Pluralism and Competition in the Media Sector: The Italian Experience

In economic sectors where constitutional principles come to the fore, legislators must reconcile individual rights and freedoms with market principles, such as the arm’s length principle, and economic freedoms, particularly the freedom to conduct business. This balance is particularly significant in the media sector, where the principle of media pluralism is paramount. Media pluralism, as acknowledged by the Italian Constitutional Court in 1988, encompasses two dimensions: internal pluralism, which secures citizens’ access to diverse, objective, and impartial information (individual freedoms); and external pluralism, which prevents the concentration of resources among a limited group of economic actors (economic freedoms). Against this backdrop, this paper explores the following research questions: What regulatory measures best ensure media pluralism? Should the focus be on internal pluralism, external pluralism, or a combination of both? To address these questions, the paper critiques Italy’s regulatory framework for fostering media pluralism, which has historically emphasized external pluralism. This approach, grounded in antitrust law, leads to considerable ambiguities and jurisdictional conflicts among national regulatory authorities. More broadly, the paper examines the effectiveness of an “anti-concentration” regulatory regime in promoting media pluralism, an issue that extends beyond simple economic considerations.