Ettore Bernabei (16 May 1921 – 13 August 2016) was an Italian television director and producer.

Biography

Early career

Ettore Bernabei began his career as editor in chief of a Florentine newspaper with Christian Democratic ties called the ''Giornale del Mattino''.Bresso-Milano : Who's who in Italy, 1957-Edition: 2008 Then, from 1956 to 1960, he was editor in chief of another Christian Democratic newspaper ''Il Popolo''. Bernabei was also a close friend and associate of five-time prime minister and important Christian Democrat

Amintore Fanfani Amintore Fanfani (; 6 February 1908 – 20 November 1999) was an Italian politician and statesman, who served as 32nd prime minister of Italy for five separate terms. He was one of the best-known Italian politicians after the Second World War an ...

.Cavazza, Fabio Luca, ’Italy: from Party Occupation to Party Partition’, in Smith, Anthony and Ortmark, Åke eds., Television and political life: studies in six European countries, pp. 76–114 (Macmillan, 1979).

Career with RAI

In 1961, Fanfani appointed Bernabei to be the Director General of RAI – Radiotelevisione italiana, where he remained until 1974. He took over RAI in the midst of an Italian Constitutional Court decision, renewing RAI's monopoly over television broadcasting. During his tenure as Director General, he furthered the tight grasp that the Christian Democratic party held over the broadcaster. His aim was to entertain and educate all viewers, while creating larger public support for the Christian Democracy.Padovani, Cinzia, A Fatal Attraction: Public Television and Politics in Italy (Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, 2005). Opponents charged Bernabei and RAI with being too intertwined with the governing party. In order to create a seemingly more balanced RAI and to appease these opponents, Bernabei began to hire journalists with ties to other parties. This was merely a symbolic gesture, as he largely ignored the ideas of these new employees and stuck to his own agenda. Bernabei's strategy greatly increased the size of RAI, but ultimately backfired for two reasons: RAI became full of political enemies and RAI's Christian Democrats split into competing groups. As a result of his hiring policies, he began to lose his once strong control over the broadcaster, and by the time he left in 1974, RAI was in need of reform. Despite all this, Bernabei's leadership is often regretted as a form of entertainment inspired by pedagogical principles, which has been missing hitherto in the Italian television.

Post-RAI Career

From 1974 to 1991 Bernabei was the managing director and chairman of Italstat. In 1991, with a group of Italian entrepreneurs he started the television production company

Lux Vide The lux (symbol: lx) is the unit of illuminance, or luminous flux per unit area, in the International System of Units (SI). It is equal to one lumen per square metre. In photometry, this is used as a measure of the intensity, as perceived by th ...

, which is famous for series such as ''The Bible'' and ''Jesus''. Since February 2007, he has served on the advisory board for

T-Systems T-Systems International GmbH (T-Systems) is an internationally operating service provider for information technologies and digital transformation. The company is part of Deutsche Telekom AG and is headquartered in Frankfurt am Main. As of 2012, T ...

Italia SpA. He died on 13 August 2016.

Awards

In 1966, Ettore Bernabei was named Cavaliere di Gran Croce by President of the Italian Republic

Giuseppe Saragat Giuseppe Saragat (; 19 September 1898 – 11 June 1988) was an Italian politician who served as the president of Italy from 1964 to 1971. Early life Born to Sardinian parents, he was a member of the Unitary Socialist Party (Italy, 1922), Unita ...

.Website of the President of the Italian Republic
Retrieved 3-10-2009

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bernabei, Ettore 1921 births 2016 deaths Italian television directors Rai (broadcaster) people University of Florence alumni Opus Dei members