Federico Ruffo: “About work, family and body shaming”

THEstay, the Carabinieri barracks. The image of a woman, then the epiphany. Federico Ruffo he would not play sports, but inquiries, he would ask himself the questions that should have been adults, the questions denied to that woman, once a taciturn child. Ruffo, that girl, had met her years before, at school. “She was always silent, I was in love with her,” he remembers today, with the awareness of someone who understood where the silence came from. That woman, the sister of a child killed in an attempted sexual assault, had found in the death of her little brother the courage to denounce her father, who for years had forced her and the little boy into intercourse and abuse. “No one had seen his hell.” Not even Ruffo, who that day, a collaborator of a local newspaper, decided what his path would be. The passion for sport has given way to news, to investigations, and that boy without connections or acquaintances has become a journalist. First, Rai, then La 7. Finally, Mediaset and the return to Rai. Ruffo, which in 2020 was entrusted with the management of RaiTre sent me, he went from being the man who works on the street, behind the scenes, to being a recognizable face, in the “Worst era journalism has ever gone through. Fake news is the failure of the category: we have not been able to understand in time how much our authority was necessary to ensure that we remained a point of reference. This has transformed the perception that people have of news, similar to the perception that people have of vegetables at the market: they don’t care if news is real or fake, they care if it marries their opinion “, he explains, thus motivating the return of the programs. investigation: “The method of verifying the facts becomes news in itself”. And, sometimes, it even makes good plays. RaiTre sent me, from this year on air on Saturday and Sunday morning, between 9 and 10.20, has reached almost 7% share, thanks to small «Intuitions». “Last year, I was of the idea that the original version of RaiTre sent me began to show the first signs of time. I felt it was necessary to make a change similar to the one made by Who has seen?. At a certain point in its history, the format experienced a phase of fatigue, won through an intuition: the age in which we live makes it easier for people to identify, so great space has been given to unsolved crimes. Likewise, we should have dealt with RaiTre sent me».

And so it was done.
«We have decided to evolve, to be a consumer investigation program. We will not have stopped at the dear bills, he would have tried to investigate its origins. We would not have stopped at the boom of hybrid cars, we would have wondered if they really are less polluting. Franco Di Mare has found an unprecedented location for the format. It wasn’t easy, many looked at us as if we were crazy ».

And that of looks for her is a recurring problem.
«I am a young conductor in what is to all intents and purposes a gerontocracy. And I paid a lot for my appearance, a child of chance and a passion for sport. It is said that the dress does not make the monk, but for the most part it defines it. For a long time, I had to work hard to make it clear that behind this armor of mine there could be a content, an authority. I was the victim of prejudice, of a body shaming in reverse. I happened to be the target of forms that I would not define bullying, but of poor cuteness. In an editorial office that was already important, they had nicknamed me “the lifeguard” ».

Why is it so hard to talk about these stereotypes when related to the male dimension?
«For the same reason that toxic love is believed to be exclusively that which binds a woman to an abusive partner. I have been in a toxic relationship for the past few years. Today, I can say that I have found sentimental serenity ».

However, very little is known about his private life.
«Privacy will become a luxury good, if I can keep it it is better, also because the risk that the public role affects the private sector exists. I am divorced: I got married very young to the girl I was with since childhood. Since then, there have been few things: some coexistence that hasn’t worked. There wasn’t much to tell, other than the love I have developed over time for animals. Since the divorce, I have a four-legged son left, Snoopy. ‘

Is it true that it was that dog that saved her from the attack which, otherwise, she would have been the victim of at her home in Ostia?
“He heard a noise: someone tripped over the bowl of kibble I had on the terrace. I thought it was the neighbors cat, but when I opened the window, I realized it wasn’t a cat. There was gasoline. Snoopy saved me, and holding him tight while he fell asleep is one thing I’ll never get out of my eyes, it was the biggest pain of my life. I will never be able to find the words to say what a sound my heart made when I decided to put an end to my dog’s suffering. In living with animals, there is everything. you learn unconditional love. After Snoopy, there were three cats and three dogs, adopted ».

Do you ever miss an ordinary life: a couple, a family?
“All time. I look at my friends, who have been the same since school, and I feel that I am missing something, what they have. The children, the routine. Then, however, I tell myself that I have something else. I have the people I helped and the one I didn’t help, I have a book (The Devil’s Watches, ed) became fiction. I have an all-encompassing job, and if many cohabitations have not gone well, the problem cannot be the others ».

What does it mean?
“That I must have a particular disposition. I do a difficult job: difficult to keep out of the door. Accounts in hand, not many colleagues have managed to keep the same marriage for a long time ».

Yet this work always arouses great fascination. You come from a family outside of journalism and without political connections. What did you understand about this profession?
«That the connections are not always essential. I started from a place that everyone considers terrible, but I find it beautiful: Ostia. At first, those who knew where I came from would pat me on the back, as if I were one of the guys from the Berlin Zoo. I could, then, attack a pippone on the spirit of sacrifice, on determination and the mess. But these are things that everyone does, including those who never get a chance. There was also luck ».

That’s all?
«I would be a liar if I denied that the environment of journalism also thrives on connections. But how long can a bluff last? You always pay for what you are, and there are exceptions. There is Riccardo Iacona, Sigfrido Ranucci, who, before the RAI, supported himself by (also) being a tennis instructor. I exist ».

And in what he calls a “gerontocracy” shouldn’t there be more room for faces like yours?
“There is a problem of perception. Generalist television is watched by a mature audience and it is believed that, in order to remain standing, one should only look at that audience. But the point here is how long we can pull the blanket. There will come a time when this audience will no longer be there and we will not have intercepted any others. We have to think about the platforms ».

Why do the “old” find it so hard to leave the field free to the “young”?
«Because it is hard to understand that television no longer has the importance it once was. Besides, there is no patience ».

Explain.
«What happened to Alessandro Cattelan is emblematic. No one would ever deny that he is the best of his generation, and no one would ever deny that he deserved a chance on RaiUno. Yet when his show didn’t get 20% share, he cried out for failure. If we want to have a tomorrow, we must take note that the share numbers do not say everything: it takes time for the Rai public and the new public it aspires to meet “.

And for the share you and Lidia Galeazzo, her co-host last year, were put on the cross.
«Last year we got everything: it’s an exercise that we like on TV, to argue where there is no need. It gives back the measure of how vile this environment can be ».

Do you never miss the road, the undercover investigations?
“Always, but I realized that if I had wanted to make a career in this sector I would have had to give up something else”.

Have you ever been afraid when working as an investigator?
«I have never weighed in repercussions. I never believed the stereotype of the uncomfortable journalist, under guard, of the journalist who leads a difficult life, which is enough in itself to make him more of a journalist than others. risk is part of the job, and that’s what makes it beautiful: if you’re not taking risks, you’re not digging in the right place. Today, the fear I feel the most are complaints, which are a theme: we must be careful to express ourselves ».

The Sallusti case, pardoned by the President of the Republic, is the most striking example.
“Like the case of Lino Jannuzzi, who ended up in prison for a series of crimes of opinion. There should not be a crime of opinion, but a just measure. The jurisprudence is now oriented in saying that asking questions is legitimate, but the how leaves room for nuances. We should work to avoid reckless complaints, born of the sole desire to say “I sued you”, which in Italy is read as a synonym for “You were wrong”. In some democracies, perhaps more advanced, whoever complains puts a sum as a deposit: if he is wrong, this sum is paid to whoever has been sued. If we did so, perhaps, we would think carefully before taking a lawsuit ».