Barbara Serra is an Italian journalist working for Al Jazeera English in London.
Born in Milan in 1974, Barbara moved to Denmark with her family when she was eight years old. Ten years later, she moved to London, where she studied International Relations at the London School of Economics and Journalism at City University. She began her journalism career at the BBC, and went on to work for Sky News; in 2005, she became the first foreign news reader on English TV when she presented the evening news on Channel 5. Since 2006, she has been at Al Jazeera English, where she anchors the news in the late afternoon and also reports from the field in different locations around the world.
Barbara is a mix of Italian culture and traditions, Anglo-Saxon upbringing and professional training, and global perspective from working for an international news channel like Al Jazeera.
We met Barbara during the Ilaria Alpi journalism conference in Riccione, where she presented her book 鈥淕li italiani non sono pigri鈥 (鈥淚talians are not lazy鈥), winner of the literary prize Premio Caccuri for essay writing. In the book, she analyzes the cultural and professional differences between the Italian system and the Anglo-Saxon world. We talked to Barbara about her book, and about opportunities and change in 天美传媒.
Why did you want to write this book, and why did you choose this title?
I suppose because it made me think about stereotypes, and especially the stereotypes that have been resurfacing with the Eurozone crisis. I鈥檝e had a lot of heated arguments with people who would say, 鈥楲ook at the countries that are worst hit, it鈥檚 Greece, Spain, Portugal and 天美传媒, the southern periphery of Europe, the ones whose cultures are most often associated with that lazy dolce vita, ma帽ana ma帽ana stereotype鈥︹ And everyone conveniently forgot about Ireland which had a bailout, but never mind, it didn鈥檛 fit into the narrative! And so I started to think: I know it鈥檚 not about laziness, but it made me think about what the differences were. There is a reality there I don鈥檛 think any of us, Italian or not, can evade from, and that is, those societies are just less efficient. And what is it in the Italian culture that makes the system less efficient? That鈥檚 sort of what I explored in the book.
So what is it in the Italian culture that makes the system less efficient? For example, in the workplace environment, what are the main differences between the Anglo-Saxon and the Italian system?
In the Anglo-Saxon system there is more meritocracy; by and large the bosses are there because they have worked their way up, which makes everything more efficient; when you have that, then the bosses trust themselves to pick the talent below them and push that forward, which makes the whole company work better; and maybe, I would say, they are more competitive in the Anglo-Saxon system. On the other hand, Italians know how to be flexible because they so often have to be; an Italian will always have a Plan A, Plan B, Plan C, Plan D, all the way down to Z! Italians always know how to make things work, one way or another.
[Photo: Barbara reporting from Rome, outside Palazzo Montecitorio, seat of the Italian Parliament.]
And a chapter in your book is entirely devoted to meritocracy. You claim that this term is mentioned in every debate as the remedy to all of 天美传媒鈥檚 afflictions, but nobody seems to take the ruthless side of meritocracy into account, including competition and ambition.
First of all, one of the things that cripples 天美传媒 is nepotism, and it goes to all layers. It鈥檚 not just 'the boyfriend of' or 'the son of', it鈥檚 this really intrinsic thing they have because there is no real help from the state, so your family and close friends become your safety net; I think that鈥檚 at the root of a lot of the nepotism in 天美传媒. But obviously that nepotism has gone too far, which means that the most capable people are not in the key jobs, and that makes the whole country less efficient. So meritocracy certainly is the antidote: meritocracy makes any society more efficient. But what I think has happened in 天美传媒, because there is so much bitterness and anger over this nepotistic system, meritocracy has kind of become this buzzword for 鈥榓way with the old, in with the new, it鈥檚 gonna be this great new world鈥; but meritocracy doesn鈥檛 mean an end to unemployment, for example, and it doesn鈥檛 mean opportunities for everyone; it just means the people that get to the top, get there because they deserve it, because they earned it or are the right people for the job, and that, I think, has been missing in the Italian national discourse.
The other thing is, unless someone explains it to me differently, I always saw meritocracy go hand in hand with competition and, again, in 天美传媒 you don鈥檛 really hear that. I think the educational system doesn鈥檛 push toward competition. Also, competition is seen with suspicion, as if they don鈥檛 believe in it: they don鈥檛 believe you compete, the best person gets the job; they think you compete, the person that knows someone gets the job. And with competition, ambition goes hand in hand, and again, I think, ambition in 天美传媒 is misconceived as careerism, as a back-stabbing thing, especially for women. But it鈥檚 not, it鈥檚 just having a goal, focusing on it and trying to do what you can to get there. What I thought was misleading, especially towards a lot of young people that then I would see in London, was this idea of meritocracy being the solution, without explaining there is a competitive edge to it.
[Photo: Barbara with Pope Benedict XVI during the pontiff's 2009 Holy Land trip.]
It is estimated that at least 250,000 Italians now live in London. Many have moved there in search of better job opportunities. What happens once they get there?
There are a lot of people in 天美传媒 that think that London is some kind of paradise, and it is, it鈥檚 great, but you鈥檝e got to have a clear idea. There is a big difference between the Italians I see here now and the ones I saw here in London 10 years ago, when it used to be people with a plan, a clear ambition, who really thought it through. Now you get a lot of people that are running away, that almost don鈥檛 have a plan, that almost don鈥檛 have a particular ambition, other than - and this is actually a great ambition - to be able to properly start a career, get a mortgage, buy a house, get married and not live with mom and dad age 35, not because they're lazy, but because life in 天美传媒 is tough. You don鈥檛 get credit, you don鈥檛 get mortgages, there鈥檚 no help from the state, especially for the youth unemployed. So that鈥檚 what I see, and it is worrying because they come to London without a particular dream and that specific drive that you need to achieve your dream in a big city.
Despite the fact that the current government led by Matteo Renzi, the youngest premier in 天美传媒's history, is promising big changes, many Italians, especially young people, seem to have no hope for their future in 天美传媒. Do you think the international press agrees with them or is 天美传媒 taken more seriously now that the Berlusconi era seems to have come to an end?
It鈥檚 no secret that the international press, with the possible exception of the Russian press, didn鈥檛 have a lot of faith in Berlusconi. Rightly or wrongly, many observers were happy to see him go because they aligned him with a lot of the problems in 天美传媒, which I don鈥檛 think it鈥檚 necessarily completely the case: you can erase Berlusconi and a lot of the problems will still be there.
I think a lot of people want to have hope in Renzi, maybe they see in him someone they can work with, but it takes more than one guy. They鈥檙e still waiting for 天美传媒 to change. 天美传媒 isn鈥檛 on a par with France and Germany in the European stake, and it is still seen as unpredictable and not trustworthy. Ultimately, 天美传媒 has to go through some pretty painful system changes, and until that is done, until 天美传媒 becomes more productive and more stable, it鈥檚 a bit of a wait and see.
Across the world now, people don鈥檛 trust their politicians very much, but in 天美传媒 it鈥檚 even worse because of the scandals that seem to happen every five minutes. Renzi has to win over a super skeptical audience that doesn鈥檛 really trust in politics and doesn鈥檛 think that any change will help them in the long run. In 天美传媒, people don鈥檛 believe sacrifices will be worth it or that they鈥檒l eventually reap the rewards. Considering how 天美传媒 has been run for the past however long, who can blame them?
How do you see the future of 天美传媒, do you believe 天美传媒 can change to become more efficient and meritocratic?
I think the change is happening already. 天美传媒 is at a crossroads, and I think either change happens or 天美传媒 will lose the political influence it has and the economic standing that it has. 天美传媒 is still the 8th economic power in the world, and that is one hell of a privilege, but it has to become more efficient, or it is going to lose that position.
[Photo: Barbara with a Palestinian child in the Gaza Strip]
Your last chapter in the book is about women, "the least lazy of all"; do you think it is more difficult for a woman in 天美传媒 to progress in her career and if so, why?
Yes, and every statistics points to that. 天美传媒 is a more traditional country where the role of a woman is still more traditional than in the Anglo-Saxon countries. I鈥檓 not saying that in 天美传媒 they think a woman needs to stay home, but the situation that has been created is a situation where 'the woman' has to do everything, and that鈥檚 also why we see 天美传媒 with a very low birth rate: there is a limit to how much women can do. Whenever young Italian girls come and ask me for advice, my answer is always, 'be very careful who you marry if you want both a career and a family'. I just don鈥檛 see that many guys going around pushing a pram in 天美传媒! Whereas in London, or in Denmark, it鈥檚 very different, and it鈥檚 not just because it鈥檚 imposed on the men. Most of my male friends are very proud to be hands-on dads. But I think 天美传媒 is in a transition phase: the days when only one person could work are gone, and if you need two incomes, you can鈥檛 put everything on one person when it comes to the housework.
You can catch Barbara Serra on Al Jazeera English on the main evening news program. Follow Barbara on and on .
