This article has been subjected to double blind peer review

This article has been published in: Ocula 16, Semiotics of Economic Discourse

authors: Mirko Benedetti (Senior researcher ISTAT, Roma (IT)) and Cinzia Castagnaro (Dipartimento di Tecnologie, Comunicazione e Società, Università Guglielmo Marconi, Roma (IT))

Unbelievable numbers. Some semiotic drifts in media coverage of official statistics on the economy

language: italian

abstract: The article analyzes the media coverage of the official statistics on Italian economy between 2005 and 2015, and it focusses on journalistic articles containing information deemed inconsistent or only partially responsive to the data released by the National Statistics Institute (Istat). The examination of this “problematic” corpus shows that the distorted information is not only related to material errors regarding the way journalists handle numbers, but also to the pursuit of sensational effects that are constructed through discursive practices.

citation information: Mirko Benedetti and Cinzia Castagnaro, Numeri da non credere. Alcune derive semiotiche nella copertura mediatica delle statistiche ufficiali sull’economia, "Ocula", vol.16, n.16, December 2015. DOI: 10.12977/ocula43

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