RaiNews broadcasts Salvini’s full video on the Open Arms case: “Used as a megaphone for the government”

RaiNews broadcasts Salvini’s full video on the Open Arms case

Controversy erupts at RaiNews after the decision to broadcast Matteo Salvini’s full video on the Open Arms case.

The Minister of Infrastructure and Deputy Prime Minister, in fact, published a video on his social media in which he comments on the request for six years of prison against him made by the Palermo prosecutor’s office in the Open Arms trial.

The video, which lasted almost 4 minutes, was broadcast in its entirety by RaiNews. A decision that sparked protests from the broadcaster’s editorial board.

“Almost 4 minutes of monologue on the Open Arms trial taken from Minister Salvini’s social media – we read in a note -. Once again our channel used as a megaphone for the statements of a leading member of the government. Once again the rules of good journalism and the mediation work of an entire editorial team have been disregarded. Who decided to broadcast it? What does director Petrecca say? We believe it is our duty to at least offer the same amount of time to the other party in this affair”.

The members of the Democratic Party who are part of the Rai Supervisory Board also expressed their opinion on the case: “The list of evidence of ‘Subjugation’ of the public service to the majority is growing. Rai forced to broadcast a monologue of over three minutes by Minister Salvini in self-defense with respect to the ongoing trial. All this with a protesting Cdr and with journalists and information professionals humiliated and forced to broadcast it. There is no balance, there is no guarantee of impartiality and every elementary principle of public service is trampled on. All this after the Sangiuliano and Toti cases. We are truly concerned about this slippery slope on the eve of important administrative rounds starting from Liguria and we intend to invest this obvious criticality also with Agcom. Persevering is truly diabolical and someone will have to answer for this mortification of Rai”.