TG2

The first half of 2009 was dominated by the taking of Oath at the White House by America's new President, Barack Obama, the case of Eluana Englaro, the European elections and the tragic earthquake in L'Aquila, while the second half of the year was characterised by the G8 conference, transferred from the original venue on the Isola della Maddalena to L'Aquila, the killing of six Italian soldiers in Kabul and the tragic floods in Messina.

In this context, at the end of July, the Tg2's new director, Mario Orfeo, was elected and just a few weeks after his arrival, the new broadcasting style was developed. In the space of a few months, this new style has made the Tg2 more attentive to the quality of news and information, with positive effects on critics and audiences alike. The current broadcasting style of the Tg2 is seen as being more authoritative and reliable, as well as offering broader journalistic coverage of the news.

Over the past few months, the Tg2 has undergone extensive restyling of the sets and graphics, with innovation also touching on the website, which has witnessed a marked increase in the number of accesses to multimedia content.

In 2009, the Tg2 made 3,915 broadcasts, among news programmes, specials, analytical features and live events, for a total of about 1,220 hours, corresponding to an average production force of almost 3.5 hours a day.

The 8.30 p.m. edition of the Tg2 which, with an average viewer age of 53, represents Rai's youngest news programme, reached a weighted average 2,322,000 viewers with a 10.2% share (taking into consideration the first and second part added from July).

For almost 15 years, the 1.00-2.00 p.m. time slot of the Tg2 has comprised the 1.00 p.m. edition of Tg2 Giorno, Tg2 Costume e Società and Tg2 Medicina 33, the long-standing health feature directed by Luciano Onder, on air at 1.50 p.m., which recorded 1,586,000 viewers and a share of 13.5%.

In 2009 the Tg2 continued its work to create numerous analytical features.

In the morning time slot, the journalistic 'container' Tg2 Punto.it and the feature on economy Tg2 Nonsolosoldi, with Friday afternoon dedicated to Si Viaggiare and the after midnight slot reserved for Tg2 Mizar, curated by the culture production team. Also: the weekly feature Tg2-Storie which analyses the week's most important stories; Tg2 Punto di vista, the weekly appointment on current affairs, celebrities and the hottest national and international issues; the consolidated Tg2 Motori and Tg2 Dossier, on air late on Saturday evening.

The special edition of the Tg2 on 6 February, on the touching and controversial issue of Eluana Englaro, was of particular significance.