by Fiamma C. Invernizzi, B.Liver
The B. Liver Fiamma interviewed Riccardo Sorrentino, a journalist for Sole 24 Ore and president of the Lombardy region's order of journalists, who recognizes the importance of social journalism in Italy and Europe.
There is a date in the history of Italian culture when human knowledge did a somersault, reversing course.
In 1564 – and even more precisely three days apart, Feb. 15 and Feb. 18 – Galileo Galilei was born and Michelangelo Buonarroti died. This is the exact moment when the world of science and calculation “kills” humanism, slowly separating knowledge into watertight compartments that, as the centuries pass, stop conversing.
The spirit returns to the prerogative of religion, literature to the literati, and computation translates the human being into a tireless worker, hungry for numbers. In this excess of (in)sustainable development, in search of authenticity and of a Homo humanus as well as sapiens, field journalism becomes an emblem of a new reversal in the direction of a renewed contemporary humanism. Talking about this with Riccardo Sorrentino, a journalist for Sole 24 Ore and president of the Council of the Order of Journalists, is an honor.
In a time when words like uncertainty and fragility are the order of the day, what value can social journalism have?
“Social journalism, when it is as authentic as in the case of the Bullone, is a very important enrichment for traditional journalism, which is faced with new issues, including precisely that of uncertainty. The pandemic more than anything else has shown how journalism has to come to terms with this uncertainty, finding itself unable to give absolute answers.
There is a great hunger today for certainty. This is real, serious and should not be forgotten. Social journalism, in this, can make an important contribution precisely because of its function of great openness to that segment of civil society and the world that was once not part of the ivory tower of traditional journalism.”
What are the characteristics a social journalist must have today?
“What is fundamental is to acquire more and more skills. That of the journalist is increasingly becoming the figure of a cultural translator: someone capable of translating the expertise of experts into the language of other people, perhaps experts in other fields. In this sense, the social journalist finds himself well equipped, since he often draws on a world-or multiple realities-that are not strictly related to the professional field.”
Social journalism – dear to us at the Bolt – often deals with themes such as solidarity and dialogue, which do not always jump to mind when it comes to traditional journalism. How can these two avenues intertwine?
“Social journalism can really do a lot in this regard, being naturally open to what is not part of the world of traditional journalism, where sometimes a somewhat sterile cynicism dominates that just doesn’t help.
In the Anglo-Saxon world the form of advocacy journalism, which transparently adopts a biased, albeit fact-based, point of view for social purposes, is deeply recognized. It has no literary translation into Italian that accurately conveys its sophistication, unfortunately. It is time for social and mainstream journalism to “meet.”
Or, better yet, rather than meeting, I would intend to talk about competition. The good kind. The one that stimulates running together, side by side, in different ways, in a continuous drive to improve. It is time for someone to realize that there is another way of doing things, of telling and bringing them to light.”
At the InVisible Festival – which took place last October 20, 21 and 22 at the IBM Studios in Piazza Gae Aulenti – was presented the Bullone.eu, a new masthead as well as a pilot project to develop a European social magazine built on encounter and dialogue, which starts right from the experience of the Bullone. We did so with great enthusiasm and excitement, listening not only to the words in our founder, Bill Niada, but also those of the European commissioner for economy, Paolo Gentiloni, the director of Corriere della Sera, Luciano Fontana, and the press and communication adviser of the Presidency of the Republic, Giovanni Grasso. In his opinion, what is the value of this launch?
“I am happy to see other initiatives – different from the Bullone and still little known – moving in a similar direction to this one. I sense – and it is now glaringly obvious – a growing need for quality press and media channels, capable of dealing more and better with the plurality of Europe. Projects that overcome the boundaries and limitations given by linguistic and cultural pluralities.
That is why I wish great success and future to this important Bullone project, in all its forms and scales. As I said, our dear old continent is still very segmented in terms of media, and a solution must be found as soon as possible. Sharing similar experiences-as the Bullone can do-allows people to meet in an ever-fertile common ground that can transform Europe from an enclosure to a network of constructive confrontation. A citizens’ Europe is still missing, but change is now underway and the Bullone is a key piece of it.”
“There is a great hunger today for certainty. This is real, serious and should not be forgotten. Social journalism, in this, can make an important contribution precisely because of its function of great openness to that segment of civil society and the world that was once not part of the ivory tower of traditional journalism.”
– Riccardo Sorrentino
