Claiming citizenship. Media and mobilization in Italy: the referendum campaign in 2025

Despite long-term residence, many individuals in Italy, as in many other countries, remain excluded from formal citizenship, highlighting persistent gaps in rights and political inclusion. The June 8–9, 2025 referendum on citizenship brought these issues to the forefront of public debate, revealing citizenship as both a legal status and a contested arena of grassroots mobilization. This paper analyzes the referendum campaign as both a case of political communication and the outcome of long-standing mobilizations led by movements of “denizens” (Pedroza, 2019). The study relies on a ten-week dataset (April–June 2025), combining daily monitoring of prime-time television news and newspaper with weekly collections of top posts on X and Bluesky, as well as Instagram content from key activist groups. Three research questions guide the analysis: RQ1. How did the media cover the referendum campaign on citizenship? RQ2. Which actors were most influential in shaping narratives around citizenship? RQ3. To what extent did grassroots activists succeed in reframing the debate and challenging dominant crisis-oriented frames of migration? The study employs media agenda analysis and frame-discourse content analysis, and to ensure a more dialogical understanding of the process, the research is complemented by co-research in community-building with advocacy committees involved in the referendum campaign. Findings show that while mainstream media largely reproduced established political agendas, social media campaigns enabled activists to gain visibility and redirect attention toward the lived experiences of long-term residents without citizenship. This highlights both persistent structural obstacles and emerging possibilities for migrants’ political participation in contemporary Italy.