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Already the arrival of Amadeus on Canale Nove has ended up provoking thoughts and conspiracy theories. Especially since Enrico Mentana’s contract with La7 will expire in December. Not that the journalist and the broadcaster headed by Urbano Cairo are not working on the renewal, on the contrary. But the combination with the explosive Warner Bros Discovery was immediately suggestive. At this point we only needed the casus belli of the clash with Lilli Gruber who accused the director of the La7 news program of “incontinence” for having passed her through the line a quarter of an hour late. Mentana didn’t keep it. Complete with a threatening comment (difficult not to label it that way) during the evening edition of the news, clarifying one’s expectation of seeing a signal from the company: “Tomorrow we’ll see if there was something, otherwise I’ll draw conclusions.”
Mentana: «The company’s silence»
Enrico Mentana says it urbi et orbiin front of the cameras. «Whoever followed us, Lilli Gruber, because I don’t like pretending not to know names and surnames, had very unpleasant and offensive words towards myself. I have been sitting here for 14 years to do this news, I have never intentionally offended anyone, much less my colleagues who work on this network. I would appreciate reciprocity in this regard and I would appreciate it from the company I work for that there was no silence that has accompanied this affair for 24 hours. Tomorrow evening we will see if there was anything, otherwise I will draw conclusions and direct consequences.”
I vented on Facebook
Lilli Gruber did not reply during her episode of Otto e Mezzo. But it is clear that the temperature inside the Cairo Communications TV has risen well beyond the warning level. This was evident, after all, already yesterday when Mentana delivered his jab at the journalist to Facebook, showing a graph with an (upward) curve of the ratings of his news program. «From one to nine percent in half an hour – he wrote -. This is the audience curve, completely similar to those of the previous days, of last night’s Tgla7, marked by important and continuously updated events. However, that news program was unpredictably followed by a grossly contemptuous judgment towards me by the person hosting the next programme, who is also the direct beneficiary of that ascending curve every evening.” Then the reference to the network’s managers: «A judgment from which so far no one among the top management of La7 has felt the need to distance themselves – he continued -. Small episode, but very indicative. At this point, as is right, I distance myself from the rude and the lazy.”
J’accuse live on TV
Then, hours later, Mentana takes things further, live: «Last night we went a little long with the news, it was a crucial, very important day: the prospect of peace in the Middle East, the tragedy of Casteldaccia, near Palermo. Plus, like every Monday, there were our surveys and the appointment with Milena Gabanelli’s Data Room. Like every Monday, we went a little long, I apologize to the viewers. A little long, as was pre-established and agreed with those who manage this network.”
Will Urbano Cairo be able to resolve the emergency with his group’s managers? The atmosphere is of a clash from which Mentana does not shy away at all, like someone who has nothing to lose. which doesn’t automatically mean going elsewhere. But Warner Bros discovery has CNN in its belly. Rumors from previous weeks have signaled the desire of the group led in Italy by Alessandro Araimo to strengthen. Mentana and floris are the two names that have been circulating. The director of Tg La7, however, denied any dialogue with Warner Bros Discovery. Now all eyes are on the casus belli. And how it will evolve.
