The centre-left Democratic Party (PD) said it intends to file a parliamentary question to Culture Minister Alessandro Giuli over the case, while the other main opposition group, the 5-Star Movement (M5S) accused the state broadcaster of censorship, comparing it to “Ayatollahs”.
Rai swiftly hit back, however, saying the case was “fake news” and an excuse to attack it as the content was not produced by it but by the IOC’s Olympic Broadcasting Services.
It said the graphics package the image belonged to was “provided in an identical manner to all rights-holding broadcasters worldwide, who are obliged to broadcast it according to shared international standards” and that Rai, “like any other broadcaster, cannot modify such content in any way”.
The row comes as Rai’s sports journalists withdrew their bylines from their reports Friday in protest after RaiSport Director Paolo Petrecca’s blunder-strewn commentary on last week’s Milano Cortina 2026 opening ceremony.
Petrecca started the commentary by welcoming viewers to the Stadio Olimpico, instead of Milan’s San Siro Stadium, and went on to commit a series of embarrassing mistakes.
These including mistaking Italian actress Matilda De Angelis for Mariah Carey and International Olympic Committee President Kirsty Coventry for Italian President Sergio Mattarella’s daughter Laura.
The centre-left opposition said the episode was the latest example of how Rai had allegedly become ‘TeleMeloni’, an alleged sounding board for Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni where political allegiance counts more than competence.
The opposition says Rai is now stacked with Meloni appointees, while Meloni has accused the broadcaster of left-wing bias in the past.
Several top left-leaning journalists have left Rai for other outlets in recent years, one of them finding a new home on a Berlusconi channel.
ANSA
