Lavoce.info

Lavoce.info (in English: The Voice) sprouted at a particular moment in Italian political history. In 2001, Silvio Berlusconi, the famous tycoon owning, among others, a big publishing company (Mondadori) and the largest national commercial broadcaster (Mediaset), was elected prime minister. De facto, the public television was also under his control.

Massimo Taddei, editor-in-chief of lavoce.info, recalled: "I was told that many editorial pieces of university experts criticising Berlusconi were being rejected by national newspapers at that moment." So, in 2002 lavoce.info was launched as a way to preserve pluralism using a pioneering medium at that time: a daily native-digital publication. Founders were Tito Boeri, tenured in Labour Economics at Università Bocconi in Milan, and 14 of his colleagues.

The outlet aims to be a watchdog of political economics in Italy. Around 50 academics contribute for free to the publication on a monthly basis. The editorial staff consists of three employees in charge of management.

Over time, the style of presenting the information has been simplified, meaning that notes and bibliography have been removed from the articles, and the content has been diversified; today, it produces podcasts, a data-driven section, and live talks on social media.

According to Taddei, its content is massively used by journalists as a source, often without a proper mention.

Lavoce.info is a founding member of Vox EU, a European consortium of publications aiming "to promote research-based policy analysis and commentary by leading economists".

Last updated: January 2023

Last updated date: April 2023