Govt, opposition candidates elected to Rai TV board

(ANSA) - ROME, SEP 26 - The Italian parliament on Thursday elected four new directors to the state broadcaster Rai, two from a government slate and two from an opposition list, although the opposition was split on the vote.
    The Lower House first elected a candidate close to Premier Giorgia Meloni's rightwing Brothers of Italy (FdI) party and a TV journalist close to the leftwing opposition Green-Left Alliance (AVS).
    The FdI candidate was Federica Frangi and the Rai journalist close to AVS was Roberto Natale.
    The centre left was split on the vote with the centre-left Democratic Party (PD) and the centrist Azione and Italia Viva parties boycotting the vote for Natale, who was voted in solely by the leftist populist 5-Star Movement (M5S) and the AVS.
    AVS leader Angelo Bonelli said this showed that the "broad field does not exist," referring to the sometime and erstwhile difficult alliance of leftwing and centrist parties.
    Rai parliamentary oversight panel chair Barbara Floridia commended the M5S and AVS for "preventing there being a board of directors deprived of the guard of the opposition forces and the majority naming all the directors, this ensuring a fundamental balance for the pluralism of information and the respect of the various sensibilities in the country." The Senate later Thursday elected a candidate close to the ruling rightwing League party and a candidate close to the M5S to the Rai board.
    The new League-linked director is Antonio Marano while the M5S-linked director is Alessandro di Majo. The centre-left opposition was again split on the vote, as it had been in the House earlier.
    Meloni has said she is "rebalancing" Rai after past leftwing bias amid claims she has stacked the public broadcaster with like-minded appointees and driven out left-leaning journalists.
    Rai staff have struck against her allegedly turning Rai into a government mouthpiece.
    Meloni has rejected the "Meloni TV" claims saying the left is merely irked that Rai is no longer "PD TV", referring to the main centre-left opposition party, the Democratic Party.
    Following are bios of the new directors: ALESSANDRO DI MAJO - Born in Rome on 20 October 1968, he has a degree in Law. He works as a lawyer at the Di Majo Law Firm in Rome, dealing, among other things, with copyright law, sports law and information law. From 2002 to 2009 he was a member of the Arbitration Board of the Italian Football Federation (FIGC).
    From 2018 to 2019 he was a Councilor at the supreme Court of Cassation. Since 2022 he has been a Member of the Sports Guarantee Board at the Italian Olympic Committee (CONI). He carries out research and teaching activities at national universities. He collaborated (1999-2016) with "Il Sole 24 Ore" business daily and has published about 130 articles, essays, comments and five monographs. Since January 2022 he has been a member of the Presidency Council and the General Council of Confindustria Radio Televisioni.
    FEDERICA FRANGI - Born in Rome on 8 May 1973, she has been a professional journalist since 2005 with experience in press offices and television broadcasters. She is currently in the newsroom of Tg2, but has worked for a long time in the editorial staff of 'Porta a Porta', alongside veteran star Rai broadcaster Bruno Vespa. She is also involved in trade union activities: until last February she was a national councilor of the Italian Press Federation FNSI elected with the Stampa Libera e Indipendente (Free and Independent Press) list, after having been at the helm of the Associazione Stampa Romana and a member of the board of free-speech group Lettera 22. In the autumn of last year she was called to manage the presence of Brothers of Italy (FdI) on TV, but she held the position for only one month preferring to return to her work at Rai.
    ANTONIO MARANO - Born in Ascoli Satriano (Foggia) in 1956, a graduate in architecture, he is a freelance journalist and television manager. He began his career in 1983 gaining experience in various television stations. In 1994 he was elected deputy for the Northern League (now League) and appointed Undersecretary of Telecommunications. He was hired by Rai in 2002 as a manager with the role of Director of Rai2 and two years later he was appointed Director of the Sports Rights Department. Since 2010 he has assumed responsibility for the editorial and production management of Rai Notte. In 2011 he was appointed Member of the Board of Directors of Rai Corporation.
    Since March 2016 he has been President of Rai Pubblicità, its advertising arm. In January 2021 he became commercial director of the Fondazione Milano Cortina 2026, the foundation organizing the 2026 Winter Olympics.
    ROBERTO NATALE - Born in Rome in 1958, a graduate in philosophy, he has been a professional journalist since 1990. In 1988 he was hired as a trainee journalist at the Rai Regional Headquarters in Marche. In 1989 he joined the editorial staff of the Regional Office for Lazio where, the following year, he became editor and, later, was also entrusted with the duties of presenter.
    From 1991 to 1994 he was the spokesperson for the journalists of the Fiesole Group. From 1996 to 2006 he was Secretary of Rai trade union Usigrai. From 2007 to 2012 he was President of the FNSI. A candidate for the Senate for the leftist Sinistra Ecologia Libertà in the 2013 political elections, he was not elected. From 2013 to 2018 he held the position of spokesperson for the President of the Chamber of Deputies Laura Boldrini, a leftwing former UNHCR spokesperson. In 2018 he returned to service at Rai. During this period, he collaborated in the launch of the Rai Corporate Newsletter and was appointed head of the "Social Responsibility" structure. In October 2018, he was awarded the position of Deputy Editor-in-Chief and in July 2019 the title of Editor-in-Chief. In 2022, he was appointed Director of the "Rai for Sustainability - ESG" Department. (ANSA).