Sports journalists at Italian state broadcaster Rai are set to protest after the sports director made several embarrassing mistakes during his commentary on the opening ceremony of the Milano Cortina Winter Olympics. Paolo Petrecca, appointed as director of Rai Sport in 2025, welcomed viewers to Rome's Stadio Olimpico instead of Milan's San Siro, where the ceremony was held, and mistook Italian actor Matilda De Angelis for Mariah Carey and International Olympic Committee president Kirsty Coventry for Laura Mattarella, daughter of the Italian president.
The gaffes drew widespread mockery on social media and criticism from opposition politicians, who linked Petrecca's errors to his reported close ties to Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni's far-right government. De Angelis herself joked: 'Mariah Carey and I are apparently the same person.'
CDR, the internal union representing Rai journalists, announced on Monday that sports journalists would stage protests, including withholding bylines from their Olympic coverage and striking for three days after the Games. 'For three days we've all been embarrassed, and through no fault of our own,' the CDR said in a statement, calling it 'the worst performance ever from Rai Sport during one of the most anticipated events of all time.'
The union argued that the flawed commentary damaged Rai, its licence fee payers, and its journalists, insisting it was 'not a political issue' but one of 'respect and dignity for public service.' Another journalists' union, Usigrai, described the commentary as 'inadequate.'
Opposition politicians seized on the incident as further evidence of alleged rightwing bias at Rai. Sandro Ruotolo of the Democratic Party called it a sign of 'political occupation and amateurism' at what he dubbed 'TeleMeloni.' In 2024, Rai news anchors had read a statement condemning Meloni's administration for 'turning Rai into a government megaphone.' Meloni, who came to power in October 2022, had previously accused Rai of leftwing bias.
