Rai News

This is a decidedly positive result, especially if we think of the repositioning - which the public received no notice of - of the all-news channel, from channel 506 to channel 508 on the satellite platform and from channel 42 to channel 48 on DTT. To tell the truth, it should also be said that the major diffusion of DTT throughout the country, with entire geographic areas finally being covered by this type of broadcast, has undoubtedly contributed to the success of Rai News, cultimating in December with the overtaking of its direct competitor, Sky Tg24 (45,188 average monthly viewers for the whole day, 36,323 for the compeitior).

Faithful to its philosophy of not being just another journal, but more of a window onto national and international events, to offer live opinions of the political situation and the complex issues characterising a world which is becoming more and more globalised, Rai News has continued to offer the right to receive a complete range of unbiased information, with comments and opinions, without ever taking it for granted or automatically assuming that it is inquestionable. This is proven by the more than bipartisan compliments, considering that Rai has always tried to avoid the logic of opposing blocks, offering space to minorities and realities that general-interest channel news programmes consider to be little more than marginal.

New to programming are the health feature, Ippocrate, produced in the virtual studio of Saxa Rubra, and Alle venti, a sort of immediate comment on the events of the day by protagonists and experts. It should also be pointed out that the reformulation of Tempi dispari, broadcast from 9.30 p.m. to 10.30 p.m., which is now Prima serata and features themes, with Monday dedicated to entertainment, Tuesday news, Wednesday politics, Thursday science and Friday sport.

Also interesting is the transformation of the website, www.rainews24.rai.it, which has now become a real web newspaper and central engine of a presence of Rai News also on the social networks, from Youtube to Facebook and Twitter, without forgetting the direct participation of viewers through the network's numerous moderate blogs. During big events, the website also hosted - during the opening - the channel's live signal, highlighting the strong sense of integration between the two media.

The excellent season of Rai News is also due to the collaboration of certain corporate structures, particularly the Production Division, which, thanks to the use of light media, contributed to an increased presence of the news channel across the territory, making competition with its direct rival less imbalanced. The digital mosaic is where the challenge remains imbalanced, having actually deteriorated: while Rai News failed to obtain the channel that would have enabled it to monitor events live in a more agile manner, Sky Tg 24 assigned each of the four pieces which, with the weather and live broadcasts, made up its mosaic, four independent channels. The new Sonaps server, despite having a series of problems, gave Rai the opportunity to manage a much higher volume of images than in the past, greatly improving the overall quality. Works for the new studio seem to have gotten past the planning phase: in place of the consistent works envisaged in the so-called 'shell' premises, the existing news room has been renovated to transform it into a television studio with more options. In the 'shell' area, a permanent studio will be set up, which will enable the channel to go on air while the news room is being renovated.

In short, the attempt to transform Rai News into the news of the Rai is continuing successfully. There's no time to waste or to rest on our laurels: it has been found that every littlepause, every moment of fatigue, has a negative effect on the channel. The all-news channel's destiny and mission are to tell the world live, finding the end of the bobbin in an increasingly fastmoving sequence of events. Maybe it isn't even necessary to find the end, but simply to testify events, with intellectual honesty, to be at least able to say "we were there", accompanied by our viewers.