Every day politicians, sociologists, economists cite a phantom “Real Country”. For them it is something that matters little or nothing, which corresponds to the “ground floor”, to the masses, to ordinary people. So the Real Country is just media fog, a demographic entity to turn to in election times.
But what and who is the Real Country really made of? If you think about it for a moment, the Real Country is Us, it is Us taken One by One. The artist from Polesine Piermaria Romani took to the streets and thought of a kind of census. He met and illustrated the Real Country in person. Hundreds of portraits and hundreds of stories.
(Click on the portrait and enlarge the image to read the text)
by Piermaria Romani
Dear readers,
after many months of thoughts, second thoughts, bright ideas and Hamlet-like doubts, what you find before your eyes is the New Periscope. Very, perhaps too bold, colourful, unconventional, different from all the other media in circulation, on newsstands or on the web.
If you already frequent these pages, if you like it or at least are curious about it Periscope, its new graphics and new contents will make you jump for joy. There is no online newspaper in nature with the courage and/or recklessness to criticize and overturn the classic approach of this “newspaper” .
So much so that some have wondered if newspapers are still useful, if newspapers still have a role and meaning. They always arrive “after the news”, they all put the same headline on the front page, they diligently follow the unique thought and the powerful person of the day, they copy the usual internal sections in photocopy: domestic politics, foreign affairs, news, economics, sport… Even the words they seem full of dust, because journalistic language, instead of being enriched, has become impoverished. The vocabulary of newspapers records and reproduces that of the political underworld and television chatter, or it chases in vain the great confused cloud of the web.
Periscope proposes a new way of being a newspaper, of providing information. to pull over High And Bass, to relate to your audience. It breaks down the watertight compartments of traditional newspaper sections. It welcomes and recognizes equal dignity to all genres and all languages: so in the foreground there can be news, a comment, but also a poem or a cartoon. Abandon the chase for the scoop, the exclusive interview, the illustrious signature, proposing what we called “vertical information”: that is, to enter into the “things that happen outside and inside us”, to denounce The old that resists and tells The new that sprouts; stand on the side of rights and denounce the inequality that is growing in Italy and around the world. In short: a newspaper not aimed at this or that living room, but truly at the service of the community.
With yesterday’s newspaper – so it was said – today “we wrap our fish”. Not Periscopehis “vertical information” never gets old and from our archive of 50,000 articles (available for free) useful content is continuously drawn to integrate the latest news releases. You will never find, as happens in almost all online newspapers, the first three lines of the article in clear text… and a small fee to be able to read everything else.
It seems like a rhetorical phrase but it isn’t: “Periscope it is a newspaper without godfathers and masters”. We are proudly anti-fascists, pacifists, non-violent, feminists, environmentalists. We believe in the Left (even if the Left no longer believes in itself), but we do not belong to any political house, we do not support any party or any leader. Indeed, we distrust leaders and people leaders, even heroes. We don’t like walls, both material and immaterial ones, the result of prejudice and selfishness. We like “the people” (the one written in the Constitution) and we would like to erase “the nation”, the premise of every war and every violence.
Periscope it is therefore a popular newspaper, not a national-popular one. A “generalist” newspaper, written to be read by everyone (“those who have read millions of books or who can’t even speak” F. De Gregori), by all those who cultivate curiosity, and not by the elite, by the circles of professionals, by the intellectuals of emptiness and chatter.
The editorial team and over 50 collaborators write and package Periscope on an absolutely voluntary basis; they do it because they believe in the newspaper project and in the value of different information. For this reason the newspaper is supported by a non-profit voluntary association. The readers – supporters, are in all respects part of a willing and participatory family to guarantee collective and democratic management of the newspaper which is financed, and therefore lives, thanks to the free contributions of its readers, friends and supporters. Accepts and hosts sponsors and advertisers only who are socially, ethically and culturally worthy.
Born 10 years ago with the name Ferrara Italy already with a glocal vocation, today it has become the newspaper Periscope and is already sailing on the open sea, addressing a national audience and beyond. However, let’s not forget Ferrara, the city that hosts the editorial office and where the newspaper is produced every day. Ferraraitalia continues to live inside Periscopio within a special section, an important part of the whole.
Today Periscopio has over 320,000 readers, but he wants to grow and make himself known. It will depend on who writes it but above all on who reads it and shares it with those who don’t know it yet. For once, being in the same boat can be a fascinating adventure. Happy surfing everyone.
All contents of Periscopeunless expressly indicated, are free. They can be freely printed, distributed and republished, indicating the source, author and date of publication in this newspaper.
Francesco Monini
Site Manager
