It is curious that the president of Confindustria Vincenzo Boccia stated that the crisis of Il Sole 24 Ore can be overcome by returning to proper business management, i.e. looking at the balance sheets and, as happens in all companies that lose, trying to plug the holes both with cost cuts (from tears and blood) and with the development of new products capable to lead to an increase in turnover. Curious because it seems strange that an association of entrepreneurs hasn't been able to read the financial statements and hasn't seen the approach of a crisis which was evident even to the eyes of non-expert observers.
Boccia has been president of Confindustria for a few months and therefore cannot under any circumstances be held responsible for the crack of the prestigious publishing house. However the claim of him to be sensible cannot be taken in its literal meaning. It implies the need to radically change the political attitude adopted for at least ten years, by Confindustria against Il Sole. To say that we must consider Il Sole as a company means that we must set aside that nefarious idea that had led Confindustria to consider the newspaper as an "instrument" of its political action , a kind of propaganda organ of the Confindustria positions towards the Government and other social forces. In short, a stick waved at the heads of the opponents in order to open up spaces for negotiation to make easier a negotiation aimed at achieving the objectives considered a priority by the industrialists. But this, it is clear, has nothing to do with a correct and punctual quality of information.
But then in the practical implementation of this principle, already wrong in itself, it became even worse. In fact, many Confindustria big names have used this seigniorage in the newspaper to cover the particular interests of their companies or of the associations to which they belonged, or to claim personal "visibility" or that of their company. In short, the spaces of autonomy of the newspaper have been gradually restricted, ending up affecting its credibility which now, with the emergence of this incredible financial affair, risks receiving a fatal blow.
For those who know the history of the sun over the last forty years, the causes of the current crisis appear quite evident. The newspaper began its ascent to the top of Italian information starting in the mid-70s when the lawyer Lambs (then president of Confindustria) entrusted the newspaper with the task of becoming an "authoritative and autonomous" voice of the entire Italian economy to push towards a strengthening of the market and to strengthen the pluralism of the players who operated there. Since no market economy can function without transparency and without credible and reliable information, Confindustria had to take the high credit for launching and supporting as long as it was necessary, an information tool which was supposed to help bring the country to on a par with those where the market was wider and more transparent.
Ma with the arrival of D'Amato to the presidency, Confindustria changed its inspiration. Il Sole was to become (together with Luiss) an instrument in the hands of the pro-tempore president to develop his policy. From this statement, which may seem abstract, some practical consequences arose which gradually undermined the original inspiration of the newspaper. he asserted himself spoiler system, while the directors were induced to choose collaborators on the basis of a Confindustria “Cencelli” manual. Enzo Cipolletta tried to interrupt this drift but he was dismissed from the presidency of the Sun in a short time.
This is the history. He deduces that in order to really get out of the black hole in which he has gotten himself, the newspaper needs total discontinuity, that is, to break with the D'Amato doctrine and return to Agnelli's original inspiration, naturally updated to the times and that is, taking into account globalisation, the single currency and the Europe to be built (or rebuilt). That statement by Boccia could pave the way for a radical change of pace. However, other moves seem to belie this intention. The new Board is not totally innovative and above all it is not clear what link it has with any new lenders (given that a capital increase is certainly indispensable) . The same new CEO Franco Moscetti, he may well be a prestigious manager, but he is certainly ignorant of publishing problems and in particular of the specificities of newspapers. How can he set up a strategy of in-depth review and relaunch of products if he does not know how a newspaper machine works concretely and if he does not know the peculiarities of the director's strong powers that make him an alter ego and not an employee of the company boss, it does not appear clear.
Everyone hopes that a positive turning point for Il Sole can take place soon, and not only to safeguard the professionalism of the many talented journalist colleagues who work there, but because Italy needs an authoritative organ of economic information if it wants to grow . Of course it takes more courage on the part of the publisher and maybe a clearer and more innovative vision of the situation and of the problems to be faced, which are not only financial, but above all cultural and of high political strategy.
