News on RAI have always been different because of political reasons. TG1, the news of the most followed Italian channel, RAI1, has traditionally been friendly to the government, while TG3 has been an Indian reserve of the Communist Party first and of the Italian centre-left then. Hence, one should not be surprised if there are differences in the way news are handled and commented or if secondary news may be picked according to different political sensitivities.

However, more recently, this difference in the selection of news has also been applied to the main stories. Yesterday, the news which opened the 2.20pm edition of TG3 was completely absent from the 1.30pm edition of TG1. To be more precise, TG3 showed an update on the inquests on corruption which are embarassing Guido Bertolaso, the chief of Italian Civil protection and a close aide to Berlusconi. TG1 preferred to open its news by reporting on Bertolaso's visit to Calabria, a region where there have been some landslides which, however, have not caused victims. Showing Bertolaso in action was a way to document how the chief of Civil Protection is a man who "does" things even when he is under judicial pressure. Conversely, the inquest which the TG3 documented, is implicitely seen as something which is far from being concluded and, hence, not worth mentioning. TG1 discussed the new measures presented by the government to fight corruption without, however, reminding what inquest is triggering the presentation of such a law.

The presence of such a strong fracture between RAI journalists is confirmed by another episode. Maria Luisa Busi, an experienced TG1 journalist, went to L'Aquila to document the stage the post-earthquake reconstruction is at. She had to face protestors who accused her news of covering the real state of the Italian city in order to support the idea that the government has acted quickly and properly. Ms Busi made a statement indicating that she does not respond for the editorial line of the TG1. She also acknowledged that the reconstruction is far from being complete. Yesterday, at an editorial assembly, around 20 journalists voted a motion to condemn Ms Busi's behaviour. This was far from being a majority, but confirmed the presence of deep divisions in the team.

The presence of such fractures indicates that public service broadcasting is becoming more and more partisan. Unsurprisingly, while the Italian left suggests that TG1 has become the "regime bulletin", the right screams at the partiality of TG3. The overall result is the destruction of one of the most important umpires in a democracy, PSB journalism. This had never been particularly strong in Italy. However, recent events seem to have weakened it even further.