That’s enough. Palazzo Chigi is gearing up to accelerate the turnover of the entire Rai administration. The last night of the Sanremo festival, with Rosa Chemical’s exaggerated performance between kisses and sexual winks with Fedez, was the classic drop that broke the camel’s back. The audience record, the defense of managing director Carlo Fuortes, maestro Amadeus and Stefano Coletta, director of entertainment at Rai1, were of no avail. The government is now determined to carry out – and quickly – the replacement of senior management in viale Mazzini that was already planned anyway. But the last presentations surprised and bothered even the authors of the program who found themselves facing something absolutely unexpected: “We started with Mattarella and ended with these things here…” seems to have been the comment that circulated in the corridors of the Ariston.
However, the top management of Rai ends up in the crosshairs, “guilty” for not having prevented the singing festival from turning into a “political murder”, as confirmed by the Brothers of Italy. The criticism comes from all over the centre-right. Silvio Berlusconi begins, in an interview with Il Giornale, who, starting from the premise that he did not have time to watch the competition, observes with regret that “this great television event has not changed skin since today. From an event destined to promote the splendid Italian songs, it gradually turned into an event with ideological connotations, in which it is not the music that makes the news, but a series of provocations linked to the present, all oriented in a way that displeases the public. least half of Italians. I’ve seen things ideologically displaced to the left, which doesn’t feel right to me, especially on the eve of important regional elections.”
«Do we need to change Rai’s senior management? – he concludes – No, there’s no way I want to come to that. I simply say that I like public television, it fulfills its role as public television». Matteo Salvini also claims that he has not been following the festival and, disguising the controversies, expands the “range of performance” and explains that “there will certainly be a need to reflect on the management of Rai as a whole”.
The leader of M5s, Giuseppe Conte, is in the same tune: “Controversies don’t fascinate me. I believe that Rai needs a deep overhaul, we’ve been talking about this for some time. A ground-breaking reform to improve and make public service more effective». Culture undersecretary Gianmarco Mazzi (FdI) made it clear that there will be an intervention, at least in Rai’s top management, on Saturday – speaking to the Agi agency – according to which “it is right to change the narrative of the country” . The Minister of Tourism Daniela Santanché tries to decant the controversies, although she recognizes that «there really were some mistakes, but I defend the festival as a product, the problem is that they want to spoil the product of Italian music, it is a pity ».
Amadeus’ comment was laconic: “If they send me away… what should I do? I’m leaving”. If someone tells me that my mandate ends here, I write it down and I have 4 beautiful years for my whole life, with the pleasure of having done what I wanted to do. So in life, besides the Festival, or the Whatever festivals I go to, it all depends on the result: if you get results like these, you have strength, if you had 15-20% less participation, of course I would be an impartial coach. I am aware that any coach is strong from that the team wins, if the team loses even the biggest ones run the risk of being exempt. That’s why I have to bring what I feel, because if I have to make mistakes, I have to do it with my ideas, not with those of others». Stefano Coletta, director of entertainment at Rai 1, however, does not feel absolutely blamed for everything that happened in the five nights of Sanremo: “Attacked despite the audience? It’s a party game.” He then states: «I performed all the functions I performed with the same simplicity, from programmer to correspondent, from conductor to director and I believe that it is a path that I deserved for my dedication. Enough.” But this time it will probably be the government who says enough is enough.
Source: IL Tempo
Emma Fitzgerald is an accomplished political journalist and author at The Nation View. With a background in political science and international relations, she has a deep understanding of the political landscape and the forces that shape it.
