Phenomenology of Rete 4, the political arm of Mediaset

Like certain crazy expenses on the transfer market, like those long-chased bomber jackets, presented to fans promising championships and the Champions League, then slowly swallowed up by the bench, Bianca Berlinguer’s move to Mediaset remains a fairly inexplicable move. “For days I’ve been wondering why a network should make gold bridges to a modest talk like ‘Cartabianca'”, wrote Aldo Grasso, speaking of an “incomprehensible auction” around BB. In fact, it seems that in Viale Mazzini they are still toasting in the corridors. Pier Silvio Berlusconi, on the other hand, is convinced that he has made a great deal, and can’t wait to meet Mauro Corona (“he is the man of the mountains and I am of the sea”, they could even swap holidays: Corona in Portofino in stand-up -padel, Pier Silvio whistling in the woods with Poiana and climbing bare-chested together with Erri De Luca in the Alps). She, the direct interested party, Bianca Berlinguer, former tsarina of Rai 3, new top network player, confesses that by leaving she had the feeling of “having solved a problem for Rai”. The Berlinguer operation has already been blessed with the presentation of the Rai schedules in Naples with De Luca’s compliments to the management sitting in the front row, “well done… you pulled this sòla to Mediaset”, dry and resolute technical comment (the same joke was circulating when the Rai dropped the “David” ceremony to Sky, but the sòla returned to the sender two years later). In any case, Mediaset believes it. Bet everything on the arrival of the Berlinguer caravan, with Corona, Di Cesare, Orsini, the colony of the “Fatto Quotidiano”, the most hosted newspaper in broadcasts, with Scanzi in the lead. Bianca Berlinguer is already the Pino Insegno of Rete 4, also for her there will be not one but two programs, including “Stasera Italia”, where she will alternate with Nicola Porro (not very happy), and then a multi-year contract until retirement, breakthrough of the Rai salary cap and Mario Giordano’s shift from Tuesday to Wednesday to make room for it. Put all together, the retequattristi are now making an impression, like a dream-team, the New York Cosmos or the Avengers of talk shows: Augusto Minzolini, Mario Giordano, Gianluigi Nuzzi, Paolo Del Debbio, Giuseppe Brindisi, Nicola Porro featuring Giuseppe Cruciani, perhaps next shoulder to “Quarta Repubblica”, finally she, the new entry, the market hit, Bianca Berlinguer. One wonders, however, what is the agenda, the fil rouge, the line of conduct of this Frankenstein of information assembled with very different pieces, apart from the usual “big mess to put up”, mother yeast of every talk-show that respect it, otherwise, as Fedele Confalonieri always reminds us, “who watches them?”.