"Dear Daniele, you complained in Il Domani because I called the choice to entrust you and Giulia Presutti with the hosting of Report mediocre. I confirm, and I clarify: your professionalism is not mediocre, which I do not question; what is mediocre is the choice to put you at the helm of the most important investigative program in the history of Italian television." This is how Sigfrido Ranucci responded on Facebook to the comments of Report's new co-host Daniele Piervincenzi. "I regret the words he used, but I understand the psychological state he is in now," he told the newspaper yesterday. "Of course, first he sends me to Congo for the investigation into Luca Attanasio, he buys it from me, and two months later he says I'm mediocre..."

Ranucci responds by arguing that "a story produced for Report—which, incidentally, never aired, and which I re-edited a couple of times—doesn't make anyone a host. After all, your previous hosting of Popolo Sovrano, in the spring of 2019, saw performances ranging from 2.4% to 3.8%. You wrote to me that you understand my psychological state, and that you therefore forgive me for the criticism. I'll save you the trouble: I don't think you can understand what it means to be the target of 2,800 smear articles, whose sole purpose was to delegitimize me, my story, the people close to me, and Report itself."

"RAI," he continues, "justified your appointment as anchors by citing a competition you won. They forgot to specify which one: a competition designed to fill staffing gaps in the regional newsrooms," and not to "host a 160-minute prime-time investigative program."

Ranucci recalls having worked for a long time at Report and having "learned, and a lot from that generation of historic correspondents, how to select and develop a team. A team of extraordinary journalists. Rough, even a bit of a jerk—they never gave anyone any leeway, least of all me, as the news reports these days tell us—but always loyal to the public. And that's why I still love them so much, and I try to defend their history."

As for Giulia Presutti, the former host emphasizes that "despite knowing for weeks that she would be the new host of Report, she repeatedly lied to me and her colleagues, keeping secret the deal she had already closed. Giulia knows she's made a huge mistake: since the news broke, she hasn't answered my phone. Courage and psychological strength aren't her best qualities. She gets by better with opportunism and cunning. But the issue now is different. How can anyone, regardless of merit, think she can be the credible face of a team of world-class players to whom she's lied for weeks? An irreparable rift. What's notably absent in this affair is gratitude. It doesn't hurt those who owe you nothing. It hurts those who owe you everything and have chosen not to remember it. It's human for a journalist to want to host the most important program on Italian television. It's inhuman to think of doing so without having deserved it, walking indifferently over its ruins."

(Unioneonline)

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