Remember the 2008 financial crash? One among many subsequent questions was why almost nobody in the media saw it coming. Fast forward to the March 2013 Italian general elections. Almost nobody in the Italian media predicted Beppe Grillo’s 5-star political party would get 25.55% of the total vote and thus become the biggest single party in the Italian Lower House of Parliament. Why? If political journalists can’t even come close to understanding probable voting patterns in a highly scutinized election, why bother?
