public broadcaster Rai has faced strong criticism for airing leaked CCTV footage of a fatal compartment crash that killed 14 people. The cabin is seen nearing its final stop before suddenly rearing up, then speeding backpedal the mountain and crashing to the bottom. The prosecutor within the case spoke of “the absolute inappropriateness” of publishing the footage. The head of Rai TV said he was “deeply shocked” by the choice to indicate it. Five families were on board the car when it crashed, including two children who were among the dead. Five-year-old Eitan Biran was the only real survivor when the most cable holding the car snapped on 23 May. He lost his parents and two-year-old brother, originally from Israel, and his great-grandparents. Prosecutors say the brake, which could have prevented the accident, had been intentionally disabled. The car reversed at over 100km/h (62mph) on a support cable, passing a support pylon and so plummeting to the bottom and rolling down the mountain. Suffering ‘cannot be exacerbated’ The CCTV footage was first obtained and shown on a news program on Italian channel Rai 3, with the cabin blurred. it’s since been republished fully or partly by several other Italian media, with some only obscuring the victims’ faces. A second clip shows a worker running for help because the accident unfolds. Prosecutor Olimpia Bossi said in an exceedingly promulgation that although the suspects within the case were alert to the videos’ existence, relatives had not been informed, and also the broadcast of the footage was prohibited. The suffering of the victims’ families, she said, “cannot and must not be further exacerbated by actions like this”. The Italian Data Protection Authority has urged media organizations and social media users to not share the clips out of relevance with the victims and their relatives, “so that pain doesn’t become a tool for an additional like”. Local Mayor Marcella Severino said she too was appalled by the choice to point out the video: “I don’t think it had been appropriate towards the victims and their families.” The head of the general public broadcaster, Marcello Foa, said he had “always respected the editorial choices of the administrators and that I have always kept away from commenting on them publicly, but as president of Rai during this case, I cannot remain silent”. “It could be a duty for the general public service, in circumstances like this, to carefully evaluate all the implications, starting with the moral ones and respect for the victims and their families,” he added. Politicians joined the condemnation. Former education minister Valeria Fedeli said in a very joint statement with fellow Democratic Party politician Andrea Romano that the channel needed to elucidate its actions. The decision showed “total disrespect for the victims and their family members”, they argued, adding that the violation of the publication ban was “all the more serious because it absolutely was dole out by public service providers”. Senator Laura Garvin said during a Facebook post that the printed of the video “means trampling on the memory of the victims and also the pain of their families. Sensationalizing death has nothing to try and do with the correct of the press.” However, La Stampa newspaper defended its decision to republish the footage, arguing that it had been “stronger than 1,000 words and clarifies how the intervention of the brakes could have prevented the disaster”. Three suspects from the corporate that operated the car are currently under investigation over the incident. A technician has admitted installing a fork-shaped bracket to deactivate the parking brake, which had reportedly been malfunctioning, earlier this year. However, a compartment expert has alleged that earlier videos he took suggest the brake was already disabled in 2014.
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