About me

I served as Professor of Sociology of Communication and of Political Communication from 2002 to 2016 at the University of Milan.
Previously I taught, as Associate Professor, at the Universities of Salerno (1988-1997) and Genoa (1997-2001).
Before being appointed Associate Professor I spent about ten years (1977-1988) as post-doc and lecturer at the Universities of Rome-La Sapienza and then Milan.
I also taught courses of Political Communication, as invited Visiting Professor, at the Universities of Southern Queensland (1998), Innsbruck (2000), George Mason (2006), Freie Universität Berlin (2011), Toulouse (2015).
I served as President of the Italian Association of Political Communication from 2014 until 2019.
Research Interests
My research interests focus mainly on the role of media in society, with a very special focus on how mediated communications affect politics and political dynamics, in a comparative perspective. In the early years of my research activity I found inspiration in the works of and in the personal interaction with leading scholars in these fields such as Denis McQuail and Jay G. Blumler, whom I consider my virtual mentors.
My Scholarly Engagement
My scholarly ‘engagement’ has been largely in International networks. Here are some of my ‘commitments’:
- 1978-1983 member of the Europe-wide team of comparative research on the first European Election [1979];
- 1984-2004 member of the EuroMedia Research Group, serving also as chair for few years (1998-2004);
- 2005-2006 chair of the Political Communication Division of the International Communication Association (ICA);
- 2005-2009 Italian partner and vice-chair of COST ACTION A30: ‘East of West’;
- 2000-2013 co-founder and editor of the peer-reviewed journal Comunicazione Politica;
- 2007-2020 founded and managed the Milan International Summer School of Political Communication and Electoral Behavior;
- 2011-2013 Italian partner of the Research Project MEDIAACT (Media Accountability and Transparency in Europe, FP7-SSH-2009-A);
- 2011-2016 Editor-in-Chief of the International Encyclopedia of Political Communication (Wiley);
- 2018: Fellow of the International Communication Association;
- 2014-2019: President of the AssoComPol – Associazione Italiana di Comunicazione Politica
- 2020: Recipient of the David Swanson Award for Service to Political Communication Scholarship (ICA and APSA)
If you wish to know more about my scholarly career, you can find me on:
Or just look into my CV
My ORCID: 0000-0001-7852-1322