Ranucci’s mobile phone: chats as an alleged secret weapon

Rome. Like Flaubert, Ranucci – or ‘Madame Rannuccy’, as she calls herself – believes that "Report" is all about her, that ‘if they take the programme off me, then we’ll have some fun’, and that ‘I’ve got everyone’s chat histories on my phone’. Ranucci’s trump card is his record of messages, the archive that guarantees he will retain the hosting role on "Report". He is telling his colleagues at Rai that the whole of Italy – executives, ministers, spies and fishmongers – have messaged him and that “if I wanted to”, well… “I’ve got everyone’s chat history”. Whilst the Rai Ethics Committee was submitting its report on misconduct to the CEO, Rossi, Ranucci was in the Rai studios putting together the next episodes of the programme. They ask him: ‘Don’t you think you failed to manage your friendship with Lavitola properly?’ And he replied: “I’ve always managed it well” and assured them that Lavitola had never influenced the work of Report. These are the outbursts in the newsroom; then there’s Ranucci’s social media account, where he reposted a message from Sandro Ruotolo, the PD MEP, because “politicians are calling for my replacement”. In this bistro-style scenario – a sort of ‘reverse attack’ – the blame would therefore lie with Rai for daring to investigate because, says Ranucci’s lawyer, ‘he is the victim’. And it’s true – it’s just a pity that the instigator is the landlord who used to cook his squid, his friend, and that the ‘attack’ is the brainchild of four ragged characters: would five shots at the window be better, or TNT in the boot?

Ranucci expects, at most, a warning – which at Rai is the equivalent of a light smacking for the naughty child of the moment. That noble section of the organisation which believes, “He’ll step aside. It’s too much”, is deluding itself, and it’s a pity. The only person who today faces the genuine challenge of figuring out who is hosting "Report" is the director of Current Affairs, Paolo Corsini, who stands out as the doyen of the profession: he was mocked by Ranucci (along with Lavitola) and now has to deal with Ranucci with the elegance of a profession that, within 24 hours, forgets insults and wrongs – that ‘let’s focus on making a good news programme, a good show’ attitude. Ranucci keeps repeating, “They want to get rid of me from Rai; if they do, they’ll prove they’ve caved in to politics.” Do you know how this might end? If Ranucci doesn’t leave, they’ll say Rossi must go, for failing to rein him in. The blame on Rossi and the fallout on Ranucci.