Lucia Annunziata

Lucia Annunziata (Sarno, August 8, 1950) is an Italian journalist.

Career

Born in Sarno (in the Salerno province), at the age of 13 she moved to Salerno, where she attended high school and university, obtaining a degree in History and Philosophy. In 1979 she became a professional journalist, working as a correspondent from the United States first for Il Manifesto, then for La Repubblica. She then went on to work for the Corriere della Sera and finally for RAI (Italy's national public broadcasting company) in 1995 (with the "Linea Tre" program on Rai Tre); in August 1996 she became executive editor of the TG 3, although she resigned from the job at the end of November. In 2000, she became executive editor of the neonate news agency ApBiscom (subsequently renamed Apcom).She became President of RAI on March 13 2003, and resigned on May 4 2004; she was the second woman President of RAI (after Letizia Moratti in 1994). In 2005-2006, she hosted the interview programm "In 1/2h" (In half an hour) for Rai Tre, in which she famously interviewed then Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi. Currently, she works as columnist for La Stampa and as a panelist for The Washington Post.

The Berlusconi interview

On March 12 2006, in the middle of the electoral campaign for the Italian general election, Lucia Annunziata interviewed the then Presidente del Consiglio dei Ministri Silvio Berlusconi, who was running for a second term, on her program "In 1/2h" (In half an hour). During the interview, she asked pressing questions about the works of Berlusconi's administration, often interrupting the Prime Minister's statements, which annoyed him to the point that he stood up and left the room halfway through the program.

The interview was cut short when Berlusconi stood up and left the room. She later reportedFact|date=February 2007 that Berlusconi had handed her a list of questions he wanted to be asked, and requested she did not diverge from it during the interview; however, during the actual program, she did not follow the list and asked pressing questions, often interrupting Silvio Berlusconi's visible attempts at returning on track.

The political control board of RAI accused Annunziata of violating the Par Condicio, since that law states the interviewer should keep to a neutral stance during political interviews. She resigned from her job as executive editor of RAI in protest for Berlusconi's conflict of interest.

External links

* [http://blog.washingtonpost.com/postglobal/lucia_annunziata/ - Column on The Washington Post website (with photograph)]
* [http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=3874215935890483704&q=lucia+annunziata - Video of the Berlusconi interview] from "In 1/2h" (in Italian)