The relief of Paolo Vasili (Rome, 1953) in Mediaset was a masterful exercise for orchestral movements in the dark. The aggrieved didn’t like that news of his departure was expected on Monday (“I was going to announce my retirement. Someone wanted to hit me, in retaliation”) leading to a commercial tug of war that management caught between several mediaset communications fires. This kept newsrooms on edge, vacillating between news and denial. Spanish newspapers, Wednesday, published interviews with Vasili, statements, as Federico Marin Bellon indicated in those he made to this newspaper, were not directed at the Spanish reader as much as they were aimed at Italian business owner Silvio Berlusconi. The episode was a show of strength and a “fine” that warrants some consideration. On the one hand, Vasile is a mythical animal, the media director of the Italian school, usually taken from the quarry that represents the commercial and advertising departments of publishing companies. Volcanic people, cruel treatment, but well focused and aware of their interests. His management in Spain was exceptional, creating a network (“no television has achieved such success, which has generated a net profit of 3,500 million euros throughout my management”) that has remained a leader for very long periods of time. The Roman executive had a hunch to identify the ulterior motives of Spanish society and exploit them to the fullest. Those who consider that Vasily promoted depoliticized television are mistaken. He wanted to be smarter, creating social dominance, as Pedro Sanchez emphasized when he called Jorge Javier’s show. But all cycles come to an end and Vasile has already run out long ago. Maurizio Carlotti, another successful Italian executive on Spanish television, the same age as Vasili, with whom he worked with Berlusconi, left the frontline in 2019 without much fanfare. Finally, on Tuesday, Vasily found the way he wants us to talk about his replacement: “a severely restricted voluntary departure.” His reasoning is that “the person who has worked in your company for 40 years has not been fired,” so what happened to him cannot be so, even if it sounds very much like him. Along the way, wonderful elegies were written about the role of Vasily on Spanish television. These articles reminded me of medieval historians who glorified the opponents of their masters so that their victories seemed much more worthy. For at the end of the day, though the dragon sniffed much fire from its mouth and instilled great fear in its enemies, the dragon had died for the greater glory of Saint George, Vasily hesitated. [email protected]
