Veteran journalist Monica Maggioni has been appointed the new President of the EBU’s Italian Member RAI.

The RAI board of directors unanimously approved the election of the former head of the RAINews24 channel on Wednesday (Aug 5).

In 2014 Monica Maggioni hosted the Eurovision Debate in Brussels which was broadcast in 28 countries ahead of the EU Parliamentary elections.

She began her career at the Il Giorno daily paper and worked for Euronews before joining RAI in the mid-1990s as a foreign correspondent and anchor for its TG1 news service.

During her career Ms Maggioni has reported from conflict zones in Afghanistan, Burma, Mozambique, South Africa, and Uganda among others. In 2010 and 2011 she directed two award-winning documentaries, which were screened at the Venice Film Festival.

A new Director General of RAI has also been appointed this week. Antonio Campo Dall'Orto was previously executive vice president of Viacom International Media Networks and general manager at the company for the southern European countries, Africa and Middle East.

His previous experience also includes time spent as managing director of MTV Italy and director of LA7.