State broadcaster RAI on Wednesday announced that it has opened a probe into alleged collusion between its executives and those at private rival Mediaset to coordinate and pilot news in favor of former premier Silvio Berlusconi, who owns Mediaset.
The action came after the Rome daily La Repubblica published wiretap transcripts which showed regular consultations between RAI and Mediaset staff in early April 2005, a period which saw the death of Pope John Paul II and the landslide defeat for then-premier Berlusconi's center-right coalition in regional elections.
The transcripts were from an investigation into the fraudulent bankruptcy of a company created by Berlusconi's one-time pollster Luigi Crespi, the mastermind behind Berlusconi's successful 'contract with Italians' which helped him win the 2001 elections.
Among those recorded were Debora Bergamini, a former personal assistant to Berlusconi who after his election was given a top executive position at RAI; her counterpart at Mediaset Mauro Crippa, the director general for information at Mediaset's broadcasting arm RTL and Mediaset board member; and Niccolo' Querci, another ex-personal assistant who at the time was number three at Mediaset.
Also involved were the head of RAI 1, Fabrizio Del Noce; former RAI general manager Flavio Cattaneo; the former managing director of of RAI 1's news TG1, Clemente Minum, who now holds the same position at Mediaset's flagship Canale 5; and his predecessor at TG5 Carlo Rossella.
During the period of the pope's death, Bergamini consulted regularly with executives at Mediaset not only to coordinate coverage of the news but also to discuss what role Berlusconi should play and how best to create a ''sense of normality'' after the pope's death to avoid absenteeism at the polls, considered a disadvantage for the center right.
This apparently included having the host of a popular evening talk show mention Berlusconi at every opportune moment and putting any unfavorable news about the center right towards the end of news broadcasts.
Once election results started coming in, indicating a crushing defeat for the then-premier, the wiretap transcripts showed that RAI and Mediaset executive were in constant contact and a common strategy emerged to delay the election results or make them as confused as possible by, for example, not comparing them to the previous regional vote.
There was even a direct phone call to Bergamini from Berlusconi on election night, the text of which was sealed because of his privilege as an MP.
The La Repubblica report outraged politicians on the left, who demanded that heads roll at RAI, while the newly formed Democratic Party called on the government to report to parliament on any wrongdoing.
Mediaset board member Gina Nieri dismissed the newspaper report as ''nonsense'' and said that ''the fact that RAI and Mediaset compete against each other is as clear as day. It is also obvious that the heads of news programs consult with each other just as newspaper editors do when there is a big news story''.
''This is all much ado about nothing,'' she added.
RAI's employees' union UsigRAI took the matter seriously and called an assembly while the national journalists guild FNSI called on parliament to move forwards with reforms dealing with RAI and conflict of interest.
