The media narration of the pandemic showed the meaningful informative relevance of risky situations, especially when they impact on everyday life and human freedom. The media narration of the pandemic showed the meaningful informative relevance of risky situations, especially when they impact on everyday life and human freedom. This is what recent studies have brought to light, thanks to successful theoretical insights in the field of communication studies, as in the case of Mazzoli’s “media patchwork”. Technology, entertainment, journalism have turned “media logic” into a shared social culture. The (sometimes criminal) narration of risks marks daily life, not only within the political, health and institutional spheres at large.

While dwelling on Lovari and Ducci’s volume (2022), in the first part of the course the genesis, the evolution and transformation of the applicative structures of public communication will be analyzed, with a focus on the impact of digital technologies in the relationship of institutions, media and citizens. Starting from the tenet of institutional public communication, the course will deal with theories, models and practices that outline the functions and cognitive pathways that play a new cultural function, even in the light also of the pandemic crisis and the increasing role of digital platforms.
In the second part of the course, the volume edited by Mazzoli and Menduni (2022) will be analyzed, so as to understand how the first global disaster of the social media era changed communication, leadership and the principle of authority, the respect of for scientific skills, the dilemmas of science and ethical questions on the right to live and to be treated. Hence the focus on the profession of journalism as described by those in the field: professionals of information, editors, columnists and talk show presenters, influencers and youtubers.