{"id":464367,"date":"2026-09-08T18:14:14","date_gmt":"2026-09-08T16:14:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/2026\/09\/08\/il-caso-report-approda-a-bruxelles-ruotolo-lemfa-protegga-lindipendenza-del-servizio-pubblico\/"},"modified":"2026-09-08T18:38:32","modified_gmt":"2026-09-08T16:38:32","slug":"the-report-case-reaches-brussels-ruotolo-the-emfa-must-protect-the-independence-of-public-service-broadcasting","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/2026\/09\/08\/the-report-case-reaches-brussels-ruotolo-the-emfa-must-protect-the-independence-of-public-service-broadcasting\/","title":{"rendered":"The “Report” case reaches Brussels. Ruotolo: \u201cThe EMFA must protect the independence of public service broadcasting\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"

Brussels \u2013 The Report<\/em> case arrives in Brussels, with journalist Giulia Innocenzi invited to the European Parliament by the MEP from the Democratic Party and Head of Communications at the PD\u2019s national secretariat, Sandro Ruotolo, on the occasion of the event “Pressure on public media: a litmus test for European democracies<\/strong>“. \u201cReport<\/em> is currently the only genuine investigative journalism programme across the entire television landscape, not just on Rai.<\/em><\/strong> And that is why we have decided to defend it tooth and nail,\u201d said Innocenzi on the sidelines of the meeting.<\/p>\n

Organised by Ruotolo in collaboration with Renew MEP Veronika Cifrov\u00e1 Ostriho\u0148ov\u00e1 and Reporters Without Borders <\/em>(RSF), the initiative focused the discussion on the implementation of the European Media Freedom Act<\/a> (EMFA), which came into full effect in August 2025, and the Italian case. \u201cTogether with our colleagues at Report<\/em>, we said that we would have given up our jobs and our economic security<\/strong> if Rai<\/em> had gone ahead with imposing two presenters,\u201d following Sigfrido Ranucci\u2019s removal as presenter of the programme. \u201cA decision imposed from above, taken behind our backs.\u201d According to the journalist, the mobilisation of correspondents and editors made it possible to reach an agreement and safeguard the programme\u2019s autonomy. For Ruotolo, however, the issue goes far beyond Report<\/em>. \u201cInvestigative journalism cannot be anyone\u2019s friend or enemy, but it must take on those in power<\/strong>,\u201d he emphasised. The MEP spoke of \u201ca heavy-handed intervention\u201d by politicians and noted that he is awaiting a response from the European Commission regarding the situation in Italy. <\/p>\n

And it is from Brussels that a reminder has come regarding the instruments provided for under the EMFA. The Commission\u2019s Executive Vice-President, Henna Virkkunen, <\/strong>has announced<\/a><\/strong> stated that \u201cdiscussions are currently taking place between the Commission and all Member States, including Italy<\/strong>,\u201d to verify the correct application of the regulation. She pointed out that the EMFA is directly applicable: in the event of infringements, those affected may bring the matter before national courts, and the Commission may also \u201cexercise its powers to initiate infringement proceedings.\u201d <\/p>\n

However, the regulation does not impose a single model for the governance or funding of public service broadcasting: Member States retain a degree of discretion in the organisation of their public service media<\/strong>. And it is precisely within this framework that the Italian debate is now taking place.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Brussels \u2013 The Report case arrives in Brussels, with journalist Giulia Innocenzi invited to the European Parliament by the MEP from the Democratic Party and Head of Communications at the PD\u2019s national secretariat, Sandro Ruotolo, on the occasion of the event “Pressure on public media: a litmus test for European democracies“. \u201cReport is currently the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7896,"featured_media":464358,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"episode_type":"","audio_file":"","podmotor_file_id":"","podmotor_episode_id":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","filesize_raw":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":{"format":"standard","override":[{"template":"1","parallax":"1","fullscreen":"1","layout":"right-sidebar","sidebar":"default-sidebar","second_sidebar":"default-sidebar","sticky_sidebar":"1","share_position":"top","share_float_style":"share-monocrhome","show_featured":"1","show_post_meta":"1","show_post_author":"1","show_post_author_image":"1","show_post_date":"1","post_date_format":"default","post_date_format_custom":"Y\/m\/d","show_post_category":"1","show_post_reading_time":"0","post_reading_time_wpm":"300","post_calculate_word_method":"str_word_count","show_zoom_button":"0","zoom_button_out_step":"2","zoom_button_in_step":"3","show_post_tag":"1","show_prev_next_post":"1","show_popup_post":"1","show_comment_section":"1","number_popup_post":"1","show_author_box":"0","show_post_related":"1","show_inline_post_related":"0"}],"image_override":[{"single_post_thumbnail_size":"crop-500","single_post_gallery_size":"crop-500"}],"trending_post_position":"meta","trending_post_label":"Trending","sponsored_post_label":"Sponsored by","disable_ad":"0","subtitle":""},"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_override_counter":{"view_counter_number":"0","share_counter_number":"0","like_counter_number":"0","dislike_counter_number":"0"},"footnotes":""},"categories":[25774,29788],"tags":[35641,27427,28250,27534,27043,30909,28724,32374,35642],"class_list":["post-464367","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-in-brief","category-diritti-en","tag-caso-report","tag-party-democratic-en","tag-european-media-freedom-act-en","tag-media-en","tag-reporters-en","tag-reporters-sans-frontieres-en","tag-sandro-ruotolo-en","tag-sigfrido-ranucci-en","tag-veronika-cifrova-ostrihonova"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/464367","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7896"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=464367"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/464367\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":464368,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/464367\/revisions\/464368"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/464358"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=464367"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=464367"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=464367"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}