Italian viewers have been without two regular faces on their small screens for decades. One of them is that of Fabio Fazio, presenter of Che tempo che fa , one of the most renowned programs on Italian public television, which has hosted characters such as Pope Francis or Emmanuel Macron, and has just announced that it will not renew. Another, that of Lucia Annunziata, a historical presenter since the nineties, who has said that she does not want to continue on RAI so as not to become a "political prisoner" of television.
These are the consequences of the wave of renovations that the Government of Giorgia Meloni is introducing in Italian public broadcasting, with the aim of reflecting a turn to the right. Until now, a distribution of political balances had prevailed between the three main channels, RAI 1, RAI 2 and RAI 3, but the Executive has decided to make a move to remove cultural space from the left. So much so, that her critics are already baptizing her as TeleMeloni. The Minister of Culture, Gennaro Sangiuliano, formerly a journalist on RAI 2, a channel normally associated with the right, has been very clear: "Left culture has marginalized us for years, now it's our turn." Sangiuliano had already been controversial for other statements in which he defined the poet Dante Alighieri, author of the Divine Comedy, as the "founder of right-wing thought."
Meloni's main man in the new RAI is called Giampaolo Rossi, a communication expert after the departure of the until now CEO, Carlo Fuortes, who had to resign a year before the end of his term. Rossi, who for the moment will be director general, was behind Atreju, the ultra congress of Italian Brothers, to which Viktor Orbán and Steve Bannon, the strategist who accompanied Donald Trump in the White House, were invited. In the past, he defined the protesters who protested the assault on the Capitol after the election of Joe Biden as the "little nephews of Soros", the billionaire hated by the extreme right, whom he compared to the monstrous spider from The Lord of the Rings, the Meloni's bedside book. He has also admired Putin and has charged against multiculturalism, against feminism or even against Sergio Mattarella, the President of the Republic, whom he called "ghost" and "Dracula".
Everything happens in a country, Italy, where Silvio Berlusconi largely dominates the sphere of private television with Mediaset. In fact, Meloni's partner, Andrea Giambruno, a journalist he met years ago on a set, is dreaming of presenting a program starting next September. Therefore, the prime minister can also use the space of Mediaset televisions at a time when the leadership of Forza Italia, Berlusconi's party, sees the alliance of Brothers of Italy with better eyes.
In RAI, which is paid by all owners of a television in Italy with a fee of 90 euros per year, there will be changes in the information services. Beginning with the directors of the RAI 1 and RAI 2 newscasts, two men close to Hermanos de Italia and Forza Italia, respectively. RAI 3, the channel traditionally closest to the left, has remained with a progressive. Another man who has never hidden his admiration for Meloni, Paolo Petrecca, will direct the 24-hour channel of public television while Matteo Salvini's League obtains public radio in exchange.
Criticism comes from everywhere. The RAI journalists union, which criticizes the movements as "interference" and also stresses that none of the appointments have included women. The National Federation of Italian Press, the unitary union of journalists, also believes that the "forced" resignations are "only the first act of the new 'narrative' of the right in government." The left talks about purges and witch hunts. Meloni has tried to dodge the accusations by citing the meritocracy argument. He has assured that he does not want to "replace an intolerant power system with another intolerant power system", but rather "free Italian culture from an intolerant power system, in which you could not work if you did not declare yourself to be a certain political party". . Salvini, deputy prime minister, also throws balls out defending that Fazio is not leaving because of disagreements, but because of a new million-dollar contract at Discovery.
“All politics feel legitimized by the electoral result to behave as the owner of the public with little regard for the common good and with an overflowing greed. And not only as far as television is concerned, ”the veteran journalist criticized when explaining his departure.
