Berlusconi and proclivity: Burying a right-wing populist leader in the field of journalism

Abstract

The public sphere in the Western world is currently characterized by the presence of right-wing populist parties and leaders, who are often perceived as jeopardizing the independence of journalism. Nevertheless, there remains a limited body of research that approaches journalism from a Bourdieusian field theory perspective to capture this phenomenon. This article addresses that gap by examining how Italian press outlets remembered Silvio Berlusconi—one of the figureheads of right-wing populism—the day after his death on 12 June 2023. Using a multimodal critical discourse analysis, the investigation reveals that the death of a right-wing populist leader can serve as a moment for the journalistic profession within liberal democracies to regenerate its internal differentiation, through the reactivation of distinct professional dispositions and a collective investment in journalistic norms.