Beppe Grillo and the M5S : A political experiment

Abstract: This paper studies the political blog of Beppe Grillo and the directly connected political movement of the blog, the Movimento Cinque Stelle (M5S). Beppe Grillo, an Italian comedian and politician, launched 2009 the political movement M5S as an Internet movement with political interests. The movement is based on the blog of Beppe Grillo, which creates the content and the political guidelines of the M5S. The recent political success of the M5S, being elected the first political force in Italy in February 2013, adds to the study case actuality. The aim of this paper is to identify how Beppe Grillo uses the blog and the M5S in order to gain such a large acceptance in the society, and, which role the political aspect plays in comparison to the medial aspect. The theoretical framework is divided in two main areas of theory: the first deals with political communication, and the other focuses on Internet communication. The research is based on a perspective of Critical Discourse Analysis, adapting the research method on the empirical material studied. The context, the language and texts, as the interaction and dialogue of the blog are studied.