Italian TV viewers have been without two familiar faces on the small screens for decades. One of them is that of Fabio Fazio, presenter of Che tempo che fa, one of the most prestigious programs on Italian public television, which has hosted personalities such as Pope Francis and Emmanuel Macron, and has just announced that it will not be renewed. Another, that of Lucia Annunziata, a historical presenter since the nineties, who has said that she does not want to continue at RAI in order not to become a "political prisoner" of television.
They are the consequences of the wave of remodeling that the Government is introducing to Italian public radio and television, with the aim of reflecting a turn to the right. Until now, there had been a distribution of political balance between the three main channels, RAI 1, RAI 2 and RAI 3, but the Executive has decided to move the table to withdraw cultural space to the left. In fact, critics are already calling it TeleMeloni. The Minister of Culture, Gennaro Sangiuliano, formerly a journalist at RAI 2, a channel normally associated with the right, has been very clear: "Left-wing 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 at the new RAI is called Giampaolo Rossi, a communications expert after the departure of his former CEO, Carlo Fuortes, who had to resign a year before the end of his term. Rossi, who will be general director for the time being, was behind Atreju, the ultra congress of Brothers of Italy, to which Viktor Orbán and Steve Bannon, the strategist who accompanied Donald Trump to the White House, were invited. In the past he defined the demonstrators who protested the storming of the Capitol after the election of Joe Biden as the "nephews of Soros", the billionaire hated by the far right, which he compared to the monstrous spider from Mr. of the rings, Meloni's ledger book. He has also admired Putin and railed against multiculturalism, against feminism or even against Sergio Mattarella, the president of the Republic, whom he called a "ghost" and "Dracula".
Everything happens in a country, Italy, where Silvio Berlusconi largely dominates the sphere of private television with Mediaset. In fact, they say Meloni's partner, Andrea Giambruno, a journalist he met years ago on a set, could present a show starting in 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, is increasingly looking more favorably on the Brothers of Italy alliance.
At the RAI, which is paid by all owners of a TV set in Italy with a fee of 90 euros per year, there will be changes to the information services. Starting with the news directors of RAI 1 and RAI 2, two men close to Germans d'Italia and Forza Italia, respectively. That of 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 head public television's 24-hour channel, while Matteo Salvini's League gets public radio instead.
Criticism comes from everywhere. The RAI journalists' union, which criticizes the moves as "interference" and also points out that none of the appointments have included women. The Italian National Press Federation, the unitary union of journalists, also believes that the "forced" resignations are "only the first act of the new 'narrative' of the right in the Government". The left talks about purges and witch hunts. Meloni tried to dodge the accusations and alluded to the meritocracy argument. He has assured that he does not want to "replace an intolerant system of power with another system of intolerant power", but "liberate Italian culture from an intolerant system of power, in which you could not work if you did not declare yourself to be of a certain political party ". Salvini, deputy prime minister, also disagrees and defends that Fazio is not leaving because of disagreements, but because of a new millionaire contract at Discovery.
"All politics feel justified in behaving as owners of what is public because of the electoral result, with little consideration for the common good and with overflowing greed. And not only in terms of television", criticized the veteran journalist when he explained why he was leaving.
