Emilio Fede died, he was 94 years old

Emilio Fede, 94, has died. This was learnt by ANSA. The journalist, who was the director of Tg4, was hospitalised in an old people's home in Segrate. His condition deteriorated in the last few hours. He was cared for by his daughters Simona and Sveva.

In his long career he has been one of the most familiar faces of Italian television news, first public and then private: in the early 1960s he joined RAI and (after eight years as a special correspondent from Africa) led the 8pm Tg1 from 1976 to 1981, when he became its director (1981-83). He left Rai to join Fininvest, first as director of Studio Aperto (the news programme of Italia 1), then as head of Tg4 (from 1992). Despite frequent accusations of bias, Fede kept the direction of Tg4 for 20 years before resigning in March 2012.

Fede's funeral will reportedly be held on Thursday at the Dio Padre parish in Segrate, Milan 2.