Top Italian journalist Bianca
Berlinguer said Monday that she was quitting Rai and would no
longer present the Cartabianca political talk show on the Rai3
channel, making her the latest in a series of high-profile
figures to leave the State broadcaster in recent months.
Berlinguer, the daughter of late Italian Communist Party leader
Enrico Berlinguer, thanked Rai for having let her work for the
network in total autonomy for 34 years.
She is reportedly set to join the Mediaset private network
founded by late, ex-premier Silvio Berlusconi.
Rai3 also recently lost the two popular left-leaning chat show
hosts, Fabio Fazio and Lucia Annunziata, a former Rai chair.
Fazio, whose show was not renewed and who is moving to Discovery
Channel, said in mid-May the failure of Rai to renew the
contract for his historic talk show was a sign of the "boundless
greed" of the new government in the alleged purge.
In his weekly column for Oggi, Fazio said the right felt
"legitimised" by its thumping September general election win "to
behave like the owner of the public sphere with little regard
for the public weal and with a boundless greed".
Former Rai president and veteran journalist Annunziata quit Rai
complaining about government meddling.
Her "irrevocable" decision came shortly after the board of
directors headed by newly appointed CEO Roberto Sergio - named
after his predecessor Carlo Fuortes quit citing government
pressure - approved a new round of appointments for the
network's top news posts, including making Gian Marco Chiocci
the head of Tg1 news on the flagship Rai1 channel and Antonio
Preziosi the head of Tg2 on Rai2.
Appointments to the State broadcaster have always been heavily
influenced by the line of the government of the day, with the
exception of Rai 3 which had retained its identity as a
left-leaning channel.
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