"Au revoir les enfants"
Rai: children and the representation of pain on TV

3.1. The newscasts

If the state television as a whole shows a certain balance, both in the newscasts and in the programmes, in reporting painful facts involving one or more children as victims, active participants or witnesses, the same cannot be said in the case of Samuele Lorenzi's murder, when all the media - not only state television, which is the object of this analysis - seem "to have lost their heads", dedicating to the episode a decidedly exaggerated interest, constructing a real case, to be followed constantly and in every minute detail, as had already happened for the "extreme case" of Erica and Omar. Those factors that in the analysis of the representation of children involved in painful situations - whether crime or reports on the living conditions of children in developing countries, of the landing of illegal immigrants among whom there are children, or the difficulties of handicapped children - seemed only risky but marginal off shoots, in this case exploded in their full negative potential, exalting the above-mentioned communication defects.

3.1.1. The ever-present Cogne

The first sign is the "carpet" coverage of the episode: the newscasts dedicated services to the story every day and in every one of their broadcasts for a whole month, and in March and part of April, as has been seen, the "Cogne case" lorded the show as regards crime news in the in-depth programmes. The three channels gave a uniform coverage of the event, with Tg 1 in the lead with 37.2% of the news, all broadcast during peak viewing time, and the average duration of the services being rather long, considering that only 17.9% lasted less than one minute, while 37.3% lasted as much as from 3 to 5 minutes, an unusually long time for a newscast service, as is confirmed by the fact that almost half the services on Cogne occupied from 7% to 20% of the whole newscast (tabs. 22, 23, 24 and 25). It is worth underlining that a rapid analysis of the services prepared by the Aosta Valley regional television news revealed that the latter differed from the national newscasts in as much as they were much shorter and thus concentrated much more only on the facts. Therefore, great emphasis is given to the news; so much, in fact, that it represents the main news item in 71.8% of cases, and only in a very small percentage of newscasts (1.3%), over the whole month, is it an item of secondary importance (tab. 26).

3.1.2. The latest news on Cogne: the story with an unhappy ending

Apart from the first days, when the news was simply reported as a fact that had just occurred, the newscasts followed investigations step by step, presenting "the latest news on Cogne" every day, even when there was in fact no news to tell. Table 27 shows that of all the elements on which the news centres, 89.8% focus on the progress of the investigation (and are not simply limited to a description of the event, which accounts for 21.8% of the answers): the detailed reconstruction of the murder, the murder weapon, the blood stained pyjamas and the blood splashes, the work of the criminologist, and the role of the police in carrying out investigations. The research for new elements to "feed" to the spectator, which led the journalists, apart from repeating themselves, to also explain details that were, on the whole, insignificant, like the nomination of the family's lawyer, or to dwell on private details that should not be given space within a service aiming to inform viewers of a crime, like the funeral, the personal story of the Cogne parents, their movements minute by minute after the event.

3.1.3. The story makes no headway

The impression given by the analysis of the matters on which the news report or service is based, is fully confirmed by the fact that this latter has not fulfilled the purpose of giving information, having given any real advance in knowledge only 14.3% of times, while in most cases (61%) it was superfluous or served only give emphasis to the event in order to create an emotional reaction (tab. 28).

3.1.4. "I have nothing to declare"

In the attempt to gather "first hand" information, the people mainly called upon were the magistrates (55.1%, tab. 29), who, however, in most interviews stated that they had nothing to declare (and the attention of the viewer was drawn day after day to hear that the magistrates had nothing to declare!). As in the Erica case, one element that seems to have caught the reporters' attention is the fact that the crime happened in a context considered "pure", extremely calm, amidst the marvellous mountains and far from the madding crowd of the city. Not by chance did the inhabitants of Cogne and the mayor often appear on the screen (both representing 18.4% of the people interviewed). On the whole, however, the intervention of those who were asked to give information or elements that might help to reconstruct the background of the story, gave information only in 32.7% of cases, while the majority were unable to add anything (53.1%), or gave superfluous information (26.5%). Only in 10.2% of cases did their intervention, although not giving new facts, supply interpretative elements, and in 12.2% of cases they contributed to create that atmosphere of mystery that made a crime story into a whodunit, in the solution of which all the viewers were invited to take part (tab. 30).

3.1.5. The main image: the house

Also in this case, images have a great impact, in as much as their role, just like that of the spoken component of the service, is half-way between providing information and creating an emotional reaction, an impact. The images that were presented with the reports on the Cogne murder (tab. 31) were few and were repeated again and again, re-proposed in all the services, like that of the house or the mountain road leading from the house to the bus stop where Samuele's mother took the little brother, Davide, the morning after the murder (appearing respectively in 87.2% and in 73.1% of the services), or that of the police at work during the investigations or the places where these were carried out (the institute of forensic medicine, the public prosecutor's office). Among the various images shown throughout the period of television coverage of Samuele's murder, it is striking that 19.2% of cases include the funeral, a fact that ought to be considered private, and the toys abandoned in the garden of the Lorenzi house, images in themselves of little importance; their presence, however, is explained by the hypothesis that, yet again, they have been given the function of creating an emotional reaction ("the child who played happily in the garden and who is now dead"). And, in fact, almost 20% of the images do seem to carry out this kind of function, and in no less than 83.1% they appear to be superfluous, while in less than half of the cases the film sequences give visual support to the spoken report (tab. 32).

There is greater balance, instead, in the language used to describe the event, which is prevalently calm, with the exasperated use of adjectives in only about 25% of cases (tab. 33). The analysis was also aimed at verifying whether, in line with the characteristics of the services already described, which suggest a story in instalments more than a journalistic reportage, the narrative also made use of expedients more suitable to fiction. In fact, wide use was made of typically story-telling expressions - "thené, and soé" (75.6%) - and in some cases reference was made to future instalments (tab. 34), an aspect that appeared to a greater extent in the programmes.

In spite of the fact that stylistic elements can be defined as redundant and some times even too emphatic, on the whole the description of the event seemed substantially informative (67.9%), although 24.4% of the news ended up by evoking suspicions, even if this was far from the journalists' intentions (tab. 35). The painful fact is described with objectivity, or, at the most, with compassion (73.1 and 25.6), practically never with gratification (tab. 36), thus suggesting a balance in a certain sense positive; although the service is repetitive, and therefore useless, in 61.6% of cases, and in 17.9% emphatic or alarmist (tab. 37).

It seems that one conclusion can be drawn: if, on the whole, the impression given is of an unbalanced and excessive television coverage of the Cogne case, this is not to be ascribed to a lack of professional capability in the recording of the event, or to single cases of bad style of this or that service, but it seems to be a consequence of what happens "upstream", in the decision itself to give daily instalments, as if it were a fiction film, with new evanescent episodes, made of nothing, since nothing new had happened. The "defect" in reporting the Cogne crime can, therefore, be traced back to the fact of having an on-going narrative that could not be interrupted, of having transformed a piece of crime news, albeit terrible and upsetting, into the television event of the year.

Source: Censis survey on data from the R-Telev. Audience Inf. Centre, 2002

Source: Censis survey on data from the R-Telev. Audience Inf. Centre, 2002

Source: Censis survey on data from the R-Telev. Audience Inf. Centre, 2002

(*) Cf. note 2

Source: Censis survey on data from the R-Telev. Audience Inf. Centre, 2002

Source: Censis survey on data from the R-Telev. Audience Inf. Centre, 2002

The total is not equal to 100 because more than one answer was possible

Source: Censis survey on data from the R-Telev. Audience Inf. Centre, 2002

Source: Censis survey on data from the R-Telev. Audience Centre, 2002

The total is not equal to 100 because more than one answer was possible

Source: Censis survey on data from the R-Telev. Audience Inf. Centre, 2002

The total is not equal to 100 because more than one answer was possible

Source: Censis survey on data from the R-Telev. Audience Inf. Centre, 2002

The total is not equal to 100 because more than one answer was possible

Source: Censis survey on data from the R-Telev. Audience Inf. Centre, 2002

The total is not equal to 100 because more than one answer was possible

Source: Censis survey on data from the R-Telev. Audience Inf. Centre, 2002

Source: Censis survey on data from the R-Telev. Audience Inf. Centre, 2002

The total is not equal to 100 because more than one answer was possible

Source: Censis survey on data from the R-Telev. Audience Inf. Centre, 2002

Source: Censis survey on data from the R-Telev. Audience Inf. Centre, 2002

Source: Censis survey on data from the R-Telev. Audience Inf. Centre, 2002

Source: Censis survey on data from the R-Telev. Audience Inf. Centre, 2002

3.2. Programmes

3.2.1. The intrusiveness of the "Cogne case"

The impression of unbalanced treatment is confirmed, if not reinforced, by the analysis of the 38 (thirty eight) programmes that dedicated time to the Cogne murder, in some cases just a part of a programme, in other cases a whole programme, and even several episodes of a programme during the period of the survey. Table 38 shows which programmes dealt with Cogne - and how many times they did so - during February, but the figure must be considered in relation to the number of times each programmes is broadcast per month. By means of this comparison it can be seen, for example, that La vita in diretta, which dealt with the subject the greatest number of times, did so every day; Porta a Porta, Primo piano and Uno mattina did so in one fifth of their programmes during the month (but it must be noted that Porta a Porta also dedicated two episodes to the matter in the month of March, amounting to five episodes in all, a unique case for a programme that generally focuses on politics). Albeit in a marginal way and only in two episodes out of the 20 monthly broadcasts, Cogne was also dealt with by Tg3 Leonardo, a newscast dedicated to scientific divulgation, which took inspiration from the crime to discuss raptus in one case, and to discuss the RIS investigation methodology in the other. It is also surprising to find Samuele's murder in Chi l'ha visto, since it is impossible to understand who, in this case, has gone missing.

3.2.2. The overlapping of genres

Together with the number and the variety, what is striking is the way in which the programmes conducted their episodes when they spoke of the Cogne murder: there is remarkable overlapping of genres not only between the television reporting on facts that have actually happened or that discuss such facts and fiction, but also, as has been mentioned, between television news bulletins and programmes that go more deeply into the news stories. In fact, in the month of February, the programmes presented characteristics borrowed from newscasts, feeling it "their duty" to give constant updating of the facts, almost always presenting a step by step detailed reconstruction of the event, services directly from Cogne, documentary images (and not only), interviews with the police, in short, all the ingredients typical of newscast services.

The uneven distribution among the different channels of the analysed units naturally reflects the programmes very directly: more than 73% were on Rai 1, a percentage that includes the 21 episodes of La vita in diretta and those of Porta a Porta (tab. 39). If the time dedicated to the subject is considered, both as an absolute value (tab. 40) and as a percentage of the duration of the programme (tab. 41) it can be seen that services and in-depth studies of all lengths have been dedicated to Conge, from those that just mentioned it to those that thoroughly examined even the most subtle aspects . The fact that it was discussed above all in the second time band (55%, tab. 42), confirms that there were many in-depth programmes and late evening programmes were dedicated completely or to a great extent (respectively 26.3% and 71%, tab. 44) to the Samuele Lorenzi murder.

68.4% of the times when Cogne was mentioned, it was in those programmes that the Rai classifies as "service broadcasts" (tab. 43), a fact that may seem incomprehensible if not taken together with consideration of the classification criteria followed for these types of programmes, which goes beyond the pure and simple results of this specific survey. It is a controversial subject, since some people find that the present definition of class relative to the mission of the public service is questionable and there is disagreement on the opportunity of maintaining the same criteria or of discussing in wider terms whether the "Rai Trademark" in itself should be considered a public service.

3.2.3. The Sherlock Holmes syndrome

As in the newscasts, among the elements on which the news is focused (tab. 45), the prevalent ones are those concerning the progress of the investigation, the step by step reconstruction of the event, pulling the spectator into a sort of "Sherlock Holmes syndrome", which seems to have infected a good part of the mass media. Glancing down the list, it can be seen that there are very few central elements that can be considered suitable, so to speak, for in-depth study, like the reason for the so-called raptus, the reaction of children to violence in crime news bulletins, the role of the media and the opposing right to news reporting and respect for privacy. This latter question has been the subject of more than one transmission, showing a certain capacity for self-evaluation on the part of the television. However, the theme has been dealt with only marginally, simply "putting it on the table", without any real or deep analysis of the possible consequences or of what the significance may be of the intrusion of communications means on people's privacy. Some experts and "privileged witnesses" have been called in, but their opinion has been broadcast without any real interacton and without the development of any debate on the question of the conflict between the need to know (and therefore to inform) and the totally journalistic use of criminal facts. In some services the reactions of the people involved were also shown, specifically those of the members of the families of Annamaria and Stefano Lorenzi, who denounced the intrusion of the media. The impression remains that even the study of the media is transformed into a "media fact".

Perhaps this is a consequence of the overlapping of the newscasts, that in more than 63% of cases give redundant elements, while only in 15.8% do they represent an advance in knowledge of the facts. It is significant, instead, that in 21% of cases the programmes even risk having a negative effect, because they go on to formulate hypotheses or else, also in this context that should be an opportunity for rationality and pondered and circumstantial reasoning, they create an emphatically emotional atmosphere, when they do not even dramatise the facts (tab. 46). This consideration can be extended to the intervention of experts and opinion makers called on, who gave information or interpretative elements in less than 30% of cases (tab. 47 and 48). Another consequence is the above mentioned overlapping of genres and the abundance of documentary images that in some cases are exactly the same as those that have just been shown on the newscast, or are so similar as to be practically indistinguishable; such images cannot but be superfluous (88.2%) in this context (tab. 49 and 50).

3.2.4. The missed opportunity

Putting together the elements of the analysis collected up to this point, an interesting characteristic emerges on the programmes that dealt with the Cogne murder: taking the opportunity of the Cogne murder, an attempt was made, intentionally and worthy of merit, to face the "fundamental" themes of culture, which were again "opened up" by this story. However, it seems to have been impossible to carry out any effective follow-up to this attempt, which in the end remained "flat" and limited to the simple facts of the story without managing to take off, to raise itself from the details to the universal themes. Thus the micro, without being able to rise to the macro, remained inexorably micro, although taking up an unreasonable amount of space .

3.2.5. Crime reported as a narrative

Following the line of thought introduced, it is interesting to note the language used: first of all there is the recurrence of the exasperated and exasperating use of adjectives (60.5% cases), that it is surprising to see used in a consensus of scholars, experts, journalists and specialists, people, in short, from whom we would normally expect help in understanding the case (tab. 51). Secondly, and even more significantly, there is wide resort to narrative expedients that underline the story-telling aspect, augmenting the previously noted confusion of genres ensuing from the in-depth programmes and partly also from the newscasts, which followed the style common to fiction. And at the end of the service or the programme an appointment was fixed for the "next instalment", in 63% of cases there are typical story-telling expressions ("and thené", "and soé", "and in the endé"), or we can even see the victim's parents being called "mamma Annamaria" and "papà Stefano", as if they were the characters of an imaginary story, just as happened previously with Erika and Omar, grotesquely referred to as the "young betrothed couple" (tab. 52).

It is not surprising, at this point, that the overall evaluation of the way in which the programmes and the transmission dealt with the Cogne crime result as being strongly compromised. The event is reported with objectivity only in 31.6% of cases, and the description given in the best of cases is repetitive (52.6%) and often emphatic and alarmist (31.6%), and on the whole this television space is used to evoke suspicions, formulate hypotheses or raise illations (comprehensively 76.3%) while only in 23% of cases the way of reporting the event is devoid of judgement and purely informative (tabs. 53, 54 and 55).

Source: Censis survey on data from the R-Telev. Audience Inf. Centre, 2002

Source: Censis survey on data from the R-Telev. Audience Inf. Centre, 2002

Source: Censis survey on data from the R-Telev. Audience Inf. Centre 2002

Source: Censis survey on data from the R-Telev. Audience Inf. Centre, 2002

(*) Cf. note 2

Source: Censis survey on data from the R-Telev. Audience Inf. Centre, 2002

Source: Censis survey on data from the R-Telev. Audience Inf. Centre, 2002

Source: Censis survey on data from the R-Telev. Audience Inf. Centre 2002

The total is not equal to 100 because more than one answer was possible

Source: Censis survey on data from the R-Telev. Audience Inf. Centre, 2002

Source: Censis survey on data from the R-Telev. Audience Inf. Centre, 2002

The total is not equal to 100 because more than one answer was possible

Source: Censis survey on data from the R-Telev. Audience Inf. Centre, 2002

The total is not equal to 100 because it was possible to choose more than one answer

Source: Censis survey on data from the R-Telev. Audience Inf. Centre, 2002

The total is not equal to 100 because more than one answer was possible

Source: Censis survey on data from the R-Telev. Audience Inf. Centre, 2002

The total is not equal to 100 because more than one answer was possible

Source: Censis survey on data from the R-Telev. Audience Inf. Centre 2002

Source: Censis survey on data from the R-Telev. Audience Inf. Centre, 2002

Source: Censis survey on data from the R-Telev. Audience Inf. Centre, 2002

The total is not equal to 100 because it was possible to choose more than one answer

Source: Censis survey on data from the R-Telev. Audience Inf. Centre, 2002

Source: Censis survey on data from the R-Telev. Audience Inf. Centre, 2002

Source: Censis survey on data from the R-Telev. Audience Inf. Centre, 2002