Abstract

This chapter captures the moment communicated in the Italian press, as Europe’s new self-appointed populist leader, then interior minister, Matteo Salvini, waged war on Brussels and the Pope, over immigration. Salvini spoke in Milan, just ahead of the 2019 EU elections, flanked by Europe’s populists, including France’s Marie Le Pen and Holland’s Geert Wilders, all hoping for victory for their European Parliamentary bloc. What is explored is if the coarseness of Salvini’s emotive rhetoric over immigration – a key driver of Euroscepticism, has possibly intensified in the Post-Truth digitally led media age. This is an age in which Salvini and other populists can communicate to millions online, circumnavigating the need to get messages across to the mainstream media. In this world, Post-Truth emotive rhetoric can eclipse the previous sanctity of facts. They count less. This poses many problems for the mainstream press. Proposals for a response conclude the chapter.