Italy's media watchdog AGCOM on Thursday rapped RAI State broadcaster for an interview with the son of jailed former Mafia boss of bosses Totò 'The Beast' Riina, Salvo Riina, on Raiuno's flagship Porta a Porta talk show April 6. RAI was issued a "firm reprimand" for the "regrettable unilateral nature of many parts of the interview, conducted without proper cross-examination" which "compromised" the "completeness of information". Porta a Porta host Bruno Vespa, one of RAI's most powerful presenters, has defended the interview by saying it was followed by an in-depth probe into Mafia issues. He had been widely criticised for an allegedly supine attitude to Riina Jr.
Vespa rejected the reprimand, syaing he disagreed "radically with the judgements expressed in the reprimand" and claimed to have respected professional ethics as he has always done in his fifty-year career. Vespa said he was "deeply surprised by the measure from the watchdog, which I don't recall ever having expressed itself with such resounding severity against a TV interview".
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