A journalist spreading Russian narratives on Italian public TV

Russian propaganda continues to be active in the EU. It is aimed against Western countries’ support for Ukraine.

Despite the sometimes ridiculous fakes, Kremlin propaganda manages to sow doubts among citizens.

Who is Marc Innaro?

Marc Innaro is now an Italian journalist and editor-in-chief of the Rai correspondent for Egypt in Cairo, but not everything is as simple as it seems.

In 1985, he graduated from the Faculty of Foreign Languages and Literature with a degree in Russian at the L’Orientale University of Naples, and in 1990 he started working for Rai, having been employed by Giornale Radio.

From February 1994 to February 2001, he worked in Russia as a correspondent for the

of the radio and television news service.

Then there were rumors that Putin had allegedly expelled the journalist from Moscow and he was a radio and television news correspondent in Jerusalem from 2001 to September 2003.

Return to Russia

In September 2014, he returned to Moscow as Rai’s correspondent for Russia and the CIS countries. It is interesting that this was the year the Russian-Ukrainian war began and Putin needed people from the European media to support him and convey his narratives to the people of the European Union. 

This is also evidenced by the fact that he became the head of the editorial office after a short period of time and later, in 2015, he was promoted to the editor-in-chief of the same office. Such a rapid promotion is highly suspicious. 

Innaro’s statements in favor of Russia

Later, he demonstrated his political position on the conflict that led to the Russian invasion of Ukraine on Tg2 Post during the episode of February 26, 2022, as follows: “just look at the map to understand that over the last 30 years, it was not Russia that expanded, it was NATO”, one of the narratives promoted by the Kremlin to justify its aggression against Ukraine.

A further political expression of the conflict was made a few days later in his report for a special edition of Tg2 called “Russian Thrill”, where he, while repeating several times that this was Moscow’s point of view, restated the propaganda directly and without Kremlin filters.  He hinted at Kyiv’s responsibility for Russia’s attack on the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, according to which “the attack was the work of Ukrainian saboteurs,” thus becoming a mouthpiece for Russian government propaganda and being labeled “pro-Putin.”

In an interview with Adnkronos, Marc Innaro trivialized the fact that the closure of large Western companies such as Coca Cola, Starbucks, or even Facebook does not have such an impact on Russia. In addition, the population of countries that are considered non-hostile is approximately 4 billion people: “We’re talking about more than 60% of the planet,” the journalist said, “the conclusions are yours to draw.

In any case, a few days later, after the Duma and then the Federation Council of the Russian Federation approved a law that provides for a penalty of up to 15 years in prison for those who “intentionally ” publish news that is recognized as false. Moscow – Through an official note from viale Mazzini, Rai (like many other national and international newspapers and press agencies) suspended all journalistic services of its correspondents and correspondents from Russia as of Saturday, March 5, 2022.  This choice was criticized by several journalists, including Marc Innaro himself. However, on March 30, 2022, Rai will resume broadcasting from Russia.

Marc Innaro and his Italian colleagues in Russian propaganda

Following the list of journalists and analysts accused of spreading Russian propaganda in Italy that appeared in the Corriere della Sera, a new list has appeared in Montecitorio, this time presented by representatives of the Democratic Party and +Europe. The report, titled “Disinformation or Pluralism? 

The War Against Ukraine, Kremlin Propaganda and the Case of Italy” contains, in addition to names suspected of spreading pro-Russian ideas, such as Alessandro Orsini, Marc Innaro and Franco Cardini, some important new entries, including Sigfrido Ranucci, Corrado Augias and Alessandro Barbero.

The main thesis of these documents, aimed at questioning the integrity of the work of journalists, politicians, historians and others, is that there are “some personalities who have been invited to appear on various television programs or have authored articles” that are intended to mislead the population” up to and including “spreading speculation and propaganda.” So, not legitimate opinions, but “false myths or ideologies that tend to support the Russian vision”. Thus, Dems Lea Quartapelle and Andrea Romano, together with Riccardo Maggi from +Europa, presented a list compiled by the Italian Federation for Human Rights and Open Dialogue in the Montecitorio Hall for the debate.overcome the dollar system by creating an alternative interbank bank. the SWIFT system and the new credit card system (MIR).

Moving to Egypt or fake?

On July 5, 2022, it was announced that he would be moving to Cairo as editor-in-chief of Rai’s correspondence for Egypt, the Maghreb and Black Africa.

Managing Director of viale Mazzini Carlo Fuortes decided to move the journalist to Cairo, Egypt, where he will replace his colleague Giuseppe Bonavolonta, who is close to retirement. The decision was made for no apparent reason: Innaro had already been working on it since 2004, after the so-called Arab Spring in Italy and the end of the Gaddafi regime, but it is hard not to think that Rai’s decision has nothing to do with politics.

All this would have had some confirmation, but on 21.02.2023, in the Cartabianca program on the state-owned Rai 3 TV channel, Marc Innaro appeared, who was introduced as RAI’s “Moscow correspondent” and, together with Alessandro Orsini, again promoted Russian policy and the “power” of the Russian army.

From all this, we can conclude that there are still quite a few well-known public figures in Europe who promote disinformation and Kremlin narratives in the European media and then go unpunished, so they are not afraid of anything. Such people must face the consequences of their actions. They should be deprived of their journalistic accreditation and denied invitations to state media.

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