Overview
- RAI’s main journalists’ union, Usigrai, announced a one-day byline strike for Friday, with a statement to be read at the end of each qualifying news program.
- RaiSport staff are already withholding bylines during Olympic coverage and plan a three-day strike after the Games conclude on Feb. 22.
- CEO Giampaolo Rossi decided Petrecca will not commentate on the closing ceremony, according to the broadcaster, following a meeting earlier this week.
- Petrecca’s opening-ceremony errors included calling San Siro the Stadio Olimpico, misidentifying Matilda De Angelis as Mariah Carey, describing IOC chief Kirsty Coventry as the Italian president’s daughter, and stumbling over athlete identifications and remarks.
- Petrecca had stepped in after Auro Bulbarelli withdrew for revealing a planned surprise, and the episode has intensified political criticism of appointments at the state broadcaster.