‘Non è mai troppo tardi’. An Italian TV programme in the service of public education (1958–1967): an accounting [in] history perspective

ABSTRACT ‘Telescuola’ (translated readily as ‘Teleschool’) was an innovative educational television project realised by the Italian radio and television broadcasting service – RAI (1958–1967) that aimed at improving the conditions of the population through TV lessons, specifically by contributing to the literacy of adults. Using financial statements from RAI, data from the Ministry of Public Education and Labour – considered from an ‘accounting [in] history’ perspective – as well as different evidence (annual reports, governmental documents, sociological data), literature and historiography on the subject, the study investigates the influence of the initiative as a path to people’s emancipation built on an instrument (the television) typically associated with power. The theoretical framework relates to the power/empowerment effects of mass media and is founded on a critical discussion of the notion of Synopticon (that is a concomitant conception to that of the Panopticon). The study therefore contributes to the debate about the effects of mass media and fosters deeper understanding by contextualising accounting recordings within these social and historical frameworks.