I | talian public broadcaster RAI (Radiotelevisione italiana) has long been a prize in the hands of the latest election winner. Yet if the ruling parties routinely distribute top jobs on national networks, few governments have dared to make RAI a tool of propaganda quite so blatantly as Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni. Critics today commonly label its programming “Tele-Meloni.” However, her push to bring RAI to the right is also proving a commercial disaster — turning the broadcaster into a hotbed of continual embarrassments.
In less than a year, RAI executives have replaced, cast out, or forced the resignations of their top hosts and journalists while threatening disciplinary sanctions for those refusing to abide by de facto censorship. The changes include near-mandatory positive coverage of the government — and, in these last six months of war, a ban on explicit criticism of Israel from guests, journalists, and hosts.