The 2025 edition of the ABU RAI DAYS officially opened today in Naples — a prestigious international event promoted by RAI in collaboration with the Asia-Pacific Broadcasting Union (ABU). This year’s edition is part of the official celebrations for the 2,500th anniversary of the founding of the city, organized by the National Committee Neapolis 2500, established jointly by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Culture.
Hosting the event were Michele di Bari, Prefect of Naples and President of the National Committee Neapolis 2500, and Maria Luisa Faraone Mennella, entrepreneur and committee member. In their opening remarks, they emphasized how the event not only offers a space for reflection on the role of public media in the 21st century, but also serves as a concrete opportunity to shape the future of Naples as a creative and cultural hub of the Mediterranean.
The central theme of the 2025 edition is: “Children and the Media: Ensuring relevance for public media in the 21st century” — an urgent and collective reflection on how public broadcasters can continue to be a reliable presence for children and youth in an increasingly complex, digital, and global media ecosystem.
The challenge is twofold: on one hand, to ensure high-quality, educational, and accessible content that meets the needs of new generations — especially the digital-native Generation Alpha and the upcoming Generation Beta; on the other, to build spaces for expression and participation, fostering strategic alliances among media organizations, institutions, and educational communities.
“We are proud to inaugurate the ABU RAI DAYS under the banner of Neapolis 2500 — an occasion not just to celebrate, but to relaunch Naples as a laboratory of culture, innovation, and active citizenship,” said Michele di Bari, Prefect of Naples and President of the Neapolis 2500 Committee. “This year’s theme invites us to reflect on the world we are building for future generations, urging us to combine skills, vision, and responsibility. Naples has all the credentials to become a model of development that harmonizes identity and innovation, roots and future.”
“The growing complexity of youth distress is often rooted in a dysfunctional relationship with media,” said Maria Luisa Faraone Mennella, entrepreneur and member of the Neapolis 2500 Committee. “It is our duty — as institutions, entrepreneurs, cultural workers, and citizens — to ask ourselves how to build a media environment truly tailored to the new generations: one that can educate, inspire, include, and protect. In this context, Naples can become a laboratory of culture and innovation — a creative hub that bridges memory and the future. Investing in this territory means investing in the potential of Southern Italy and in the competitiveness of the entire country. Let us build together a media environment that inspires, includes, and protects — looking to the future with vision, responsibility, and ambition.”
The event brings together international delegations, cultural operators, public broadcasters, and media professionals, and unfolds through a series of meetings, panels, and round tables. Its goal is to promote shared strategies to strengthen the role of public media in the daily lives of younger audiences — leveraging the potential of digital technologies while upholding the core values of public service broadcasting: to inform, educate, and entertain.