Rome (AFP)
A controversy has begun in Italy around an interview given by Syrian President Bashar al-Assad on public television Rai, which will not be broadcast on the peninsula, but broadcast in Syria Monday evening.
At the beginning of this interview, Monica Maggioni, a former journalist, currently director of Rai Com, a subsidiary of the Rai, which is responsible for rebroadcasting the channels of the mother house worldwide.
Maggioni, who had already interviewed the Syrian president in the past, succeeded thanks to her contacts in her entourage to make this exclusive interview on 26 November in Damascus.
Back in Italy, a first question arose: in which program and on which channel to broadcast the interview?
The idea was to transmit it on the news channel continuously, Rai News 24, but the unions of the Rai oppose it.
They denounced the idea of broadcasting an interview conducted by someone external to the editorial staff and also exercising a management function, and no longer a journalist, while the Rai has more than 1,700, reports the daily well informed, Il Fatto Quotidiano.
The main officials of the Rai have decided to postpone, without setting a date, the broadcast of this interview, originally scheduled for Monday, December 2, on Rai News 24, which was to be broadcast at the same time on the Syrian media.
Faced with postponement sine die Italian side, Damascus said that the regime does not want to wait and will broadcast the interview at 20H00 (19H00 GMT) Monday night, according to the daily Repubblica.
The press service of the Syrian regime said it was "another example of Western attempts to hide the truth about the situation in Syria," La Repubblica added, "it is unlikely" that Rai will broadcast this interview. .
© 2019 AFP