Otto e Mezzo stages the confrontation between the presenter and Nadana Fridrikhson, a Russian chronicler who denies the history of Mariupol and attacks the Italian journalists: “I don’t see an explanation for how you can say certain things without seeing anything have on the pitch”.
The history of war in Ukraine continues to be a key element of daily television, particularly on La7, with the April 12 episode of Otto e Mezzo, which featured the Russian journalist as a guest Nadana Fridrikhsonasked by Lili Gruber to say the other point of view in this war, which is increasingly a clash between propaganda and wildly incompatible versions of reality. “Russia did not occupy the Donbass, but recognized its independence,” says Fridrikhson, repeating a refrain from the first hour of this conflict, “the Russian goal was to protect the people who inhabit this area.” Then the Russian reporter, who, as Lilli Gruber specifies, works for a station run by the Defense Ministry, adds:
I visited Mariupol and spoke to people who decided to stay in their apartments. I’m not saying that everyone raised the red flag, but many of them witnessed the crimes committed by the Azov group and the Ukrainian armed forces, such as that of Maternity Hospital No. 3, where many women were about to give birth and the military removed the power generator, saying it had been used for the war.
The war in Ukraine “a special military operation”
Gruber asks her colleague about the use of the term “war” and wonders how she defines what has been happening on Ukrainian territory for more than a month and a half: “I call it like all people who recognize what it is: a special military operation “. And given the reactions of colleagues in the studio, Stefano Feltri was also present, who blatantly reproached the guests: “Keep telling what your American partners tell you, otherwise I do not see an explanation of how you can say certain things without something on have seen the field”.
Lilli Gruber: “This debate would be impossible in Russia”
Gruber’s response to this provocative phrase is timely and underscores that this debate, albeit based on opposing positions, would not be possible in Russia: “Personally, I trust more than one New York Times journalist who works for a newspaper with a very long autonomous tradition and independent, powercritical journalism operating in a country where journalists’ freedom of expression is protected and guaranteed much more than what happens to a Russian journalist who is forced to use a whole range of words and constructed truths to take over because he does If I don’t do it, he’ll be put in jail. Those are things that don’t happen here and it’s a difference I need to remember. Nadana Fridrikhson then concludes her participation by inviting colleagues to Moscow to review her work:
18 Gifts will not be broadcast, in its place on Rai1 special Porta a Porta about the war in Ukraine
I invite you to come to Moscow in my program to see for yourself how we work.