Italians are debating the ethics of investigative television programmes after a mother was told of her daughter’s murder during the Rai 3 programme “Chi l’ha visto?” [“Who has seen him / her?”] last week.
Fifteen-year-old Sarah Scazzi disappeared on August 26th in her home town of Avetrana [Puglia] and the search for her made daily headlines, with President Napolitano appealing to the public to come forward with information.
Last Wednesday, as Sarah’s mother, Concetta Serrano, was interviewed on “Chi l’ha visto?” via a link to her bother-in-law’s house, presenter Federica Sciarelli told her that she was receiving unconfirmed reports that Sarah’s body had been found. Minutes later signora Serrano was told that Sarah’s uncle, Michele Misseri, had confessed to the murder. Signora Serrano, in a state of obvious shock, said that she could not understand what was happening. It was not until eleven minutes after the news broke that Federica Sciarelli asked for a pause in the show.
Now, as investigations continue and Avetrana residents call for the death penalty for “the monster of Avetrana”, Italians are expressing their shock and disgust at the way the programme handled the situation. Youtube extracts from the programme drew a storm of protest and comments have now been disabled on the clips.
However, Rai 3 officials have defended Sciarelli, saying that she handled the situation sensitively, whilst some commenters on national newspaper sites have said that Sciarelli was only doing her job as a journalist.
Do you think Sciarelli should have stopped the show earlier?
