La Vita in Diretta, Afternoon 5 and the case of the “mugged” guest

Snatching a live guest is, unfortunately, an established practice in Italian television salons. It happened in 2014, when Live Life led by Paola Perego and Franco Di Mare stole Annibale Rigamonti from the connection with Barbara D’Urso, and it happened again, with reversed parts, on January 5, 2022, when Mr. Sebastiano, husband of Liliana Resinovich, switched from Rai1 to Canale 5 in a somewhat unfair fight between the correspondents of two competing programs. During the episode of the Live Life conducted by Alberto Matano, in fact, Mr. Sebastiano answered the questions of the correspondent Filomena Leone until Ilaria Dalle Palle, sent by Afternoon Five News, the program conducted by the journalist of Tg5 Simona Branchetti, did not bring him in front of the camera of the other party.

Matano’s direction was immediate, explaining to the Rai1 audience that “there are colleagues from other televisions. We are doing our job, and we hope that, then, they can do theirs in the correctness that has always characterized our relationships “. Shortly after, however, the conductor wanted to enter into the merits of the matter: “We had this person connected with us live: the troupe of a broadcast of a competing network, of Canale 5 – I say it, I’m very sorry – has effectively stolen Sebastiano, who was at this time with our correspondent. These are things that happen and that shouldn’t happen ». Finally the jab: «Since we are transparent and I tell you everything, we had a regular appointment with Mr. Sebastiano, whom we have been following for days. We like Eleonora Daniele a Italian stories. Then you saw what happened live, and I must say that these are moments that do not belong to me: it’s not my style, luckily ».

The story, however, did not end there, given that, on January 6, Simona Branchetti decided to open the program by returning to the subject: “Allow me to make a small clarification on the unfortunate episode that happened yesterday with Live Life and with Alberto Matano, of which I had the pleasure of receiving a phone call this morning, who understood that, of course, there was no desire to make a difference to anyone, to want to snatch any guest ». The journalist then continued: “We are all here to work in the best possible conditions but, unfortunately, like me, he knows that, when you are on the field, sometimes this is not always possible. Our thoughts go to those who are suffering in these hours, such as Sebastiano, whom I meet today with our Ilaria Dalle Palle, whom I still thank for the hard, precise, professional work he does every day in the field ». Episodes that can happen but which, especially when it comes to crime news, should be avoided at all out of respect for pain of those who, instead of processing a loss, are tossed from one microphone to another like a top.