Claudia Di Pasquale: “I’m loyal to Report, and we will make it stronger and more rigorous”

Claudia Di Pasquale says her loyalty lies with Report, not with any individual at the program’s helm. “With Sigfrido I have always had a good relationship and I have worked for 15 years with the utmost autonomy,” she says. “But I am loyal to Report: to its team and to an idea of free, independent and rigorous journalism.”

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But I am loyal to Report: to its team and to an idea of free, independent and rigorous journalism.

Di Pasquale, who joined the program as a correspondent in 2011, has worked on 55 investigations covering the economy, migrants, consumers, prisons, the Winter Olympics and politics. Her appointment as co-host follows a controversy involving presenter Sigfrido Ranucci and businessman Valter Lavitola. She says Report now needs to turn the page. “We no longer want to be the news, but to make news,” she says, adding that the priority is to protect the program, its history and its team, and prevent its normalization.

The program’s reputation, she acknowledges, has been battered by what she calls a relentless campaign aimed at stripping Report of its authority. She says the program will recover through its work. Asked about the “brotherly friendship” between Ranucci and Lavitola and the doubts it raised, Di Pasquale says she understands the questions but argues that the campaign sought to destroy Report. “Lavitola never influenced our investigations,” she says. She adds that she never met him or visited his restaurant.

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We no longer want to be the news, but to make news.

Di Pasquale rejects the idea that the program’s renewal should be defined as a sharp break with the past. Instead, she says Report will give greater value to its established team, return to major systemic investigations and use leaner studio segments. She names Milena Gabanelli, with whom she began working, as a lasting journalistic model.

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Lavitola never influenced our investigations.

She also rejects the prospect of Report becoming “Tele Meloni,” referring to concerns about political influence at Rai. Di Pasquale says she is not a prima donna, uses social media little and never sought to host the program. Her hope, she says, is that her appointment will unite rather than divide the newsroom.

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We will never allow Report to become ‘Tele Meloni’.