Judgment awaited in Ranucci's bid to return to Report
A Rome labour court judge is expected to rule in early October on whether Sigfrido Ranucci should be reinstated as host of Report, after the Italian public broadcaster removed him from the investigative programme he led for twenty years.
Judge Donatella Casari reserved her decision on 25 September 2026, after hearing arguments on Ranucci's urgent petition against his removal. The deadline for both sides to file final written submissions expires today, 30 September. The ruling could determine who sits in the presenter's chair when the new season debuts on 8 November.
Ranucci, speaking at a book presentation in Monreale on Sunday, said he would accept whatever the Tribunal decides. "I have no feelings about it," he told the audience. "I will abide by what the Tribunal says." He described his battle as one fought "bit by bit," noting he also faces a separate disciplinary process before the Rai ethics committee.
The dispute inside the newsroom
The Report newsroom has been through weeks of turbulence. After Rai named Giulia Presutti and Daniele Piervincenzi as the new co-hosts — with Presutti later withdrawing from the role — some of the programme's longest-serving correspondents were reported to have said they would quit if Ranucci returned, citing "opportunity and incompatibility."
Those claims, first published by Il Corriere della Sera, met a swift rebuttal. The News and Current Affairs Works Council (CdR) said the newspaper's headline, 'If he returns, we go,' did not reflect reality. No assembly or representative meeting had been called to express such a collective position, theCdR stated. The concern, the council added, was that a partial view was being presented as the whole.
Ranucci dismissed the report as false. The version given, he said, reflects the position of two or three journalists out of 43 who work on the programme. The rest, he said, had no knowledge of the anonymous interview. He pointed out that on 31 August, a meeting of the programme's journalists had voted against his removal, even threatening strike action.
The new co-host, Daniele Piervincenzi, told the radio programme Un giorno da pecora on Friday that he expected Ranucci to fire him if the ruling goes in the former host's favour.
What happens next
Ranucci's legal challenge claims his removal was illegitimate, citing demotion, discrimination and insufficient justification. Rai had offered him three alternative positions: at RaiNews, at Tg3, or as Rome correspondent in Cairo, maintaining his rank as deputy director of Rai 3 and his salary. The deadline for him to choose one of those options was extended on 25 September by an additional 15 days.
Separately, the Rai ethics committee has drawn up a report that forms the basis for a disciplinary process. The contents remain confidential. The broadcaster has notified the journalist of the disciplinary charges, giving him five days to respond — a process that could result in a reprimand, suspension, or dismissal.
President of the Rome Tribunal Lorenzo Pontecorvo has publicly defended Judge Casari and the assignment of the case, rejecting criticism and confirming that the file was allocated according to standard, automatic procedures.
A ruling in Ranucci's favour would reshuffle the broadcaster's plans for the upcoming season; a rejection would leave the new structure in place. Either way, Italy's best-known investigative news programme starts its new run on 8 November with a cloud still hanging over its leadership.
