Carmen Lasorella (born 28 February 1955) is an Italian journalist, anchorwoman and television presenter.
Carmen Lasorella (born 28 February 1955) is an Italian journalist, anchorwoman and television presenter.
Lasorella was born in Matera and grew up in Potenza, Basilicata. [1] While still in highschool, she started to write for La Gazzetta del Mezzogiorno at 14 years old. After graduating in law at the Sapienza University of Rome, she worked for Il globo daily newspaper and Radiocor and ANSA news agencies. In 1979 she debuted as a newscaster for the TG3. In 1984 she moved to TG2, which she hosted for 11 years becoming one of its most iconic figures. [1] In 1987 she was the first Italian war correspondent for television [1] following the Italian navy during the Iran–Iraq War. In the early 1990s, she covered conflicts in the Horn of Africa such as the Fall of the Derg regime and the Djiboutian Civil War. She did the last interview of Somali leader Siad Barre. [2]
In 1995 she survived an ambush in Mogadishu, where her security guards and her colleague Marcello Palmisano lost their lives. The reason behind the massacre remains unknown although some speculated the victims were erroneously involved in the "banana war" between the Italian-Somali joint venture Somal Fruit and Sombana, [3] a local company under the Dole corporation, both of which allegedly employed mercenaries for the area's control. Lasorella and her crew were apparently mistaken for Somal Fruit executives by the gunmen on the payroll of the rival faction. Both companies denied involvement in the incident. [4] She also documented events in Middle and Far East interviewing personalities like Yasser Arafat, Shimon Peres, Han Dongfang and Aung San Suu Kyi. [5] She hosted several talk shows from the late 1990s to early 2000s and was appointed general director of San Marino RTV from 2008 to 2012. [6] In 2019 she ran for the regional election in Basilicata with a civic list but withdrew his candidacy a month before the vote. [7]