Rai opens talks with Report team as dispute over new hosts continues

A new channel of communication has opened between Rai’s current-affairs director Paolo Corsini and the journalists and staff of Report, but the central dispute remains unresolved. The two sides met at Rai’s Via Teulada headquarters, where Corsini listened to the newsroom’s position and then proposed another meeting soon, possibly later this week, in an effort to break the deadlock.

Corsini reportedly tried to explain that the program’s new presenters, Giulia Presutti and Daniele Piervincenzi, would not lead Report. That role, he said, would remain with the senior writers. The newsroom, including both internal staff and external correspondents, rejected that distinction. It argued that the presenters would still become the public face of the program and repeated its demand for figures able to protect Report’s identity and independence.

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A fake report? Let’s say it is not the best start for someone aspiring to be the face of Report. If what Il Domani writes were confirmed, it would be extremely serious, especially since she later took part in the Rai competition.

Presutti and Piervincenzi tried to enter the meeting while it was under way, but Corsini asked them to wait outside. They were still outside when the discussion ended and did not speak with their colleagues.

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Transparency and loyalty are requirements under the Code of Ethics.

The dispute has also widened after Il Domani reported that Presutti and Alessandro Perozzi had produced a report on the 2023 Cutro shipwreck that relied on a document presented as a Guardia di Finanza report. The newspaper said the document carried a logo dating from the 1960s. The Guardia di Finanza told Il Domani that it was not an official document and did not meet the formal standards for institutional records. Rai said the force had complained about the document’s graphics after the broadcast, but not its content, which had never been denied.

Sigfrido Ranucci called the allegations serious and questioned Rai’s decision to bring Presutti back to Report. He wrote that transparency and loyalty were requirements under Rai’s code of ethics. His lawyer also said Rai had declined to explain the factual reasons behind Ranucci’s removal, despite referring formally to “continuous pressure, opacity, interference and objective incompatibility.”

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The Rai, after formally declaring the existence of ‘continuous pressure, opacity, interference and objective incompatibility,’ has today stated that it does not intend to explain the factual reasons and circumstances behind the measure adopted against Ranucci.