(Adnkronos) – The journalist and RAI correspondent Franco Di Mare has died in Rome, suffering from mesothelioma. He was 68 years old. The announcement was made by his brother Gino Di Mare who wrote on Facebook: “Hi Fra, a piece of me goes away with you”.
Last April 28, the journalist was a guest of Fabio Fazio on Che tempo che fa. Di Mare had explained that he was suffering from a very bad tumor linked “to the presence of asbestos in the air which one gets through breathing asbestos particles, without realizing it”. “I have mesothelioma” the journalist said. For a long time as a war correspondent in the Balkans, among the depleted uranium bullets and the dust raised by explosions and collapsing buildings, he had also breathed in asbestos particles. An invisible enemy that takes its toll decades later.
Mesothelioma, as AIRC explains on its website, is a tumor that arises from the cells of the mesothelium, the membranes that cover the internal organs like a thin film. In addition to malignant mesothelioma, benign tumors can also develop from the mesothelium which are generally removed surgically and do not require further treatment.
Malignant mesothelioma is a rare disease that predominantly affects men. In Italy it represents 0.8% of all tumors diagnosed in men and 0.3% of those diagnosed in women. 90% of mesotheliomas are due to exposure to asbestos. Other less common risk factors for mesothelioma are exposure to ionizing radiation or thorium dioxide (used in the past as a contrast medium for x-ray images).
The first symptoms of pleural mesothelioma, often linked to the accumulation of fluid in the pleural cavity (pleural effusion), are respiratory: shortness of breath (dyspnea) and cough. Pain in the lower back or one side of the chest and more nonspecific symptoms, such as muscle weakness and weight loss, may also be present. Abdominal pain, weight loss, nausea and vomiting are the most common symptoms in case of peritoneal mesothelioma. The volume of the abdomen may increase due to the accumulation of fluid in the peritoneum (ascites).
Determining the stage of the tumor, i.e. how extensive the disease is, is essential for deciding the type of therapy. For mesothelioma, 4 stages (I-IV) are identified on the basis of the Tnm criteria which take into account the extension of the tumor (T), any involvement of the lymph nodes (N) and metastases (M). As with most cancers, the lower the stage of mesothelioma, the better the chances of successful treatment. However, the diagnosis of this tumor often arrives when the disease has already passed the initial stages and is now difficult to treat, therefore it is one of the tumors with a rarely positive prognosis. 5 years after diagnosis, only 8% of men and 10% of women affected by mesothelioma are still alive.
Di Mare was a very well-known name and face for Italian viewers. Di Mare was born in Naples on 28 July 1955 and was a historic RAI correspondent in crisis areas. He arrived in public service in 1991: in the foreign editorial office of Tg2 he followed the Balkan crisis as a war correspondent, visiting places such as Bosnia, Croatia and Kosovo. He has also covered events in Mozambique, Somalia, Rwanda, Burundi and the Great Lakes region of Africa.
Di Mare has carried out journalistic investigations on the Eastern European mafia, the war in Kosovo, Bosnia and Rwanda, as well as following presidential and political elections in various countries around the world. He has also investigated terrorism in Japan, Russia, the Middle East and East Africa. His experience includes coverage of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq (first and second), as well as the conflicts between Eritrea and Ethiopia and in East Timor.
In 2003, he began his career as a television presenter, especially in the program ‘Unomattina’, which he left in the 2013-14 season for the afternoon broadcast ‘La Vita in diretta’. In 2019 he was appointed deputy director of Rai Uno and in 2020 general director of Rai day time. From the same year until 2022 he was director of Rai Tre.
During the interview with Fabio Fazio, Di Mare had complained about Rai’s attitude towards his illness: “all the management groups have disappeared, not the current one, but the previous one, the one before that – he had stated -. I can understand that there are legal and trade union reasons, but I asked Rai for my service status which is my right, the places I have been, so I could try to ask the trade associations what to do… they have all disappeared. If I can understand, and I don’t necessarily have to, that there may be legal or trade union reasons, what I understand less is the absence on a human level of people to whom I spoke on a first-name basis, because I was a Rai manager , they disappeared, they denied themselves on the phone, to me. As if I were a beggar. I find only one adjective when faced with such an attitude: repugnant”.
In the aftermath of the interview, Rai CEO Roberto Sergio had undertaken to send the journalist all the documentation requested from the company in previous years. During the Supervisory hearing last week, Sergio announced that Di Mare “was sent, via certified e-mail, the documentation he had requested”.
“I am moved and I keep in my heart the sweet, tiring telephone conversation that took place the day after his complaint” declares the CEO of Rai, Roberto Sergio. “Unfortunately I won’t be able to meet him, as we promised, but I will be close to the family and in this painful moment I pray with them.”
“It is with deep pain and great sadness that we learn the news of the passing of Franco Di Mare” said the president of the Rai Supervisory Commission Barbara Floridia. “His death leaves an enormous void. I think of the important and precious contribution he gave to public service. What will remain indelible for everyone is his ability to tell the news with passion, integrity and an unmistakable personal style, dealing with professionalism and humanity, complex and often difficult issues. In this moment of mourning, our thoughts go out to his family and to those who knew him closely.
“The passing of Franco Di Mare is a cause of deep sorrow for Rai, for which he has always worked with passion and professionalism, combined with gratitude for what he did during his long career which often saw him in front line to courageously report on conflicts in the world” we read in a note from Viale Mazzini immediately after the death of the journalist in which the condolences of the entire company were expressed. “A passion that also accompanied him in the programs conducted subsequently, in the managerial roles held and in the experience of the investigative program ‘Frontiere'” which saw him at the helm until 2023.
“It’s news that deeply saddens me. Just less than a week ago I received a message from him explaining the reasons why he wasn’t replying to me.” The Minister of Culture, Gennaro Sangiuliano, spoke to Adnkronos, having just learned of the news of the death of journalist Franco Di Mare. “He recalled when we had been together in Sarajevo during the war in the former Yugoslavia because I had sent him on WhatsApp an old photograph that I had taken of him in which I portrayed him together with Fabio Chiucconi”, concludes the minister.
“Franco Di Mare left us. I knew like everyone else that it would have to happen soon but, then, every time something like this happens you are surprised and you are never ready.” Thus begins the emotional memory of Fabio Fazio who, in a video posted on his social profiles, comments on the news of the journalist’s passing. Franco di Mare, adds Fazio, “left us a great lesson in that interview on ‘Che tempo che fa’ to present his book. What he said was very important and, as far as I’m concerned, it was very important is what he and I said to each other before, in the previous weeks, in the previous days and also what we wrote to each other in the following days”, says the host who, visibly moved, adds: “These are things that will remain within me forever long. It’s a great pain.”
“Italy loses one of the most authoritative figures in journalism and culture. We are close to his wife, daughter and all his family members.” Thus Ezio Bonanni, president of the National Asbestos Observatory on the journalist’s disappearance. “As an observatory we will continue its battle against the silent killer who continues to cause thousands and thousands of victims in our country”.
