Controversy in Italy over an official television interview with the Syrian president
Controversy has arisen in Italy over an interview with the official “Rai” channel with Syrian President Bashar Al Assad, which will not be broadcast in the country, but it will be broadcast Monday evening in Syria.
The previous press interview was conducted by Monica Maggioni, and she is currently the director of “Rai com” channel, which aims to re-broadcast the programs of “Rai” channel to the world.
Maggioni had previously interviewed the Syrian President, and thanks to her acquaintances in his circles, she was able to conduct this exclusive interview with him on November 26.
On her return to Italy, a question was asked: On which program and on which channel will the interview be broadcast?
There was a suggestion to broadcast it on the news channel, “Rai News 24”, but the Rai network unions opposed it.
The unions condemned the idea of broadcasting an interview conducted by a person outside the editorial team who held an administrative position and is no longer a journalist, while the “Rai” network includes more than 1700 journalists, according to the newspaper “Al Fato Cotediano”.
The main officials of “Rai” decided to postpone the broadcast of the interview indefinitely, after it was scheduled to be broadcast on the second of December on “Rai News 24” and was supposed to be broadcast at the same time to the Syrian media.
From the Syrian side, the Syrian presidency announced in a statement on Saturday that in the event that the “full meeting is not broadcast via the Rai News 24 station during the next two days”, it will broadcast it through its accounts on social media and national media today, Monday, at nine in the evening local time (07:00 GMT).
The media office of the Syrian presidency considered that it was “free for a European media to adhere to the principles claimed by the West” especially that Italy is a member state of the European Union where “media freedoms, opinion and other opinion are supposed to be an essential part of its values”.
The Italian newspaper “La Repubblica” indicated that it is currently “unlikely” that the interviewed “Rai” will be broadcast.
