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Clips Ranked: 9, 16, 18, 19, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 32, 38, 40, 51 Total Views: 623093 (12.97% of total views) Total Comments: 1922 (13.26% of total comments) Total 'likes': 556 / 91.3% (11.3% of total likes)

Total 'dislikes': 53 / 8.7% (5.99% of total dislikes)

Description

With 13 separate representations, ‘The attack on Berlusconi’ is the most commonly uploaded event among the top ten most depicted clip themes. The relevant attack occurred in December 2009 while Berlusconi was attending a political rally in his home town of Milan. A man, later determined to be mentally ill, steps forward from the crowd, and appears to punch Berlusconi in the face. It was later officially

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determined that he had in fact thrown a miniature of the Milan Cathedral into

Berlusconi’s face from point blank range (Hooper, 2009). After initially being bundled into his car by security, Berlusconi then emerges and waves to the crowd, his face still bloodied.

The 13 clips related to this incident show the attack from different angles, and present the footage with attractive framings (usually via the naming of the clip) ranging from the neutral to the sensational and polemical – this later type being mainly in support of the attack. Although only one representation of this event makes it into the top ten most viewed individual clips, ‘Raw Video: Italian Leader Punch in the Face’ (ranked 9th), the 13 clips depicting this incident have been viewed a

combined 623093 times, receiving 12.97% of total views. This makes ‘The attack on Berlusconi’ the third ‘most viewed’ ‘Berlusconi incident’ in the themed sample.

Of the top ten clip themes, this is probably the one that best conforms with traditional conceptions of news values as employed in print and television (Galtung & Ruge, 1969; McGregor, 2002), with the values of negativity, unexpectedness, unambiguity, personalisation, reference to elite nations, reference to elite people, and conflict all present. The degree of visuality that can be associated with these clips also

translates across language barriers, perhaps increasing its appeal to the diverse international audiences. Coupled to postings of this event by 'traditional' news outlets (such as Associated Press), and taking the ability of the audience to internalise these news values into account, we should probably not be surprised that so many users have chosen to re-appropriate and upload footage of this event themselves, in some cases ascribing particularly 'newsworthy' sounding titles such as " Italy's Prime Minister Berlusconi bloodied by punch in the face" to the clips. The use of these types of titles could perhaps be considered an indicator of an internalisation of mainstream news values and media framing practices amongst the ‘bottom-up’ YouTube audience. What is perhaps more surprising is that it has been outranked in terms of views by two clip themes whose traditional media news values are

considerably less obvious. The most viewed incident, 'Impersonator harasses parking warden', was never actually reported in the mainstream international media, primarily due to the fact that as it does not actually feature a prominent person misbehaving, making it all but devoid of ‘traditional’ news value. While the events contained within ‘Bush press ops’ were depicted within the mainstream media, they were largely

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depicted as a conventional ‘international leaders meet’ story rather than as depictions of a ‘gaffe’ (ITN, 2002).

The Attack on Berlusconi: Identification and Disidentification

As with the footage included in the clip theme ‘Impersonator harasses parking warden’, there is a significant division amongst the audience as to the validity of the footage contained within these clips. Generally speaking, those who identify with Berlusconi appear to believe in the validity of the attack, and condemn (often with vitriol towards Belrusconi's perceived enemies, such as 'Communists' ) both the attack and those who they believe to support the attack;

“cavaliere get well soon ! and when you get well throw all comunists in the garbidge , they are a desease” (Clip: Raw Video: Italian Leader Punch in the Face)

Interestingly, some of those defending Berlusconi appeared to make greater use of cogitative, rather than personality/entertainment based, arguments in response to this incident, than when compared to defences of him in discussions related to 'gaffe' focussed clip themes. An illustrative example of this kind of comment follows:

“how would you know he's the worst prime-minister on Earth from your Singapore? i think you are inventing things; he does nothing outrageous, Italy is in relatively good shape despite the crisis, Italy has no conflicts with no country in the world. The opposite, Italy keeps good relations with all big countries: european , US, China and Russia. possibly you do not like the latter. on the contrary to US, Italy is peaceful, friendly country

to any other state on the planet.” (Clip: Raw Video: Italian Leader Punch in the Face)

Conversely, those who disidentify with him appear to be split between those who consider the attack to be a political stunt/distraction from 'real' political events, and condemn Berlusconi for it, and those who believe the attack was real, and commend the attacker for his actions.

“I bet this is a total set up by the Berlusconi camp. Fake assassinations have be tried before and I wouldn't be surprised if this low brow theatre was staged for sympathy. Distraction, Distraction, Distraction!!!!” (Clip: Raw Video: Italian Leader Punch in the Face)

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Rather than displaying any distinct themes around which identification or

disidentification with this performance of Berlusconi's identity might be established, the discussions flowing from these clips appear largely to be based around

articulating previously held pro or anti Berlusconi positions. What is perhaps distinct about these discussions is the comparative absence of overt popular culture

references. It is of interest that the clip theme with contents best correlating to traditional, less-celebrified, broadcast new values should appear to provoke a discussion that is less entertainment focussed, in terms of discussion themes, and types of identification displayed, than is the case with clip themes relating to ‘gaffes’ and comedic incidents.

4)Queen Annoyed: