Sayf didn’t lose due to “the fault of the press room”

Who reads Rockol knows well how long this critical space has been questions the weight and role of the press room at the Sanremo Festival. Not out of a polemical spirit, but for a structural question: today’s press room is not made up exclusively of music journalists and, often, their vote ends up fueling discussion dynamics and spectacularization that we do not always consider appropriate or representative of the musical story. Also because the press room already has its official recognition, the Mia Martini Award: everything else is, in fact, a surplus. That said, the topic of this article is not an all-out defense of the newsroom. It is rather a necessary response to the controversy that is currently circulating on social mediaaccording to which Sayf, winner of the televotingwould have been “boycotted” by the press room and would have missed the Festival “because of the journalists”, as according to some it would have happened to Geolier in 2024 (but even in that case it was not the case).

The facts tell a different story (all the numbers here). The Festival juries, as is known, are three: televoting, press room and radio-TV jury. Televoting accounts for 34%, while the other two juries account for 33% each. As clearly emerges from the data published on the RAI website, and from the scheme we propose below, Sal Da Vinci did not win due to an alleged boycott of Sayf by the press room, but because he had accumulated a high number of votes in televoting (and not only) in the previous evenings, votes that added to those of the final, thus creating a fort. If we then look specifically at the voting in the last phase, An often ignored fact emerges in the story: in the press room rankings Sayf comes third, ahead of Sal Da Vinci, who is fourth. On the contrary, it is the radio jury that holds Sal Da Vinci highest, which comes second, while Sayf drops to third place. This does not mean defending the press room regardless, it has never been our position, but simply telling things as they are. Without forced simplifications, without conspiracy narratives, without living on fantasies. Because numbers matter, and when you really look at them, they often dismantle controversies before even having to comment on them.

The day-to-day comparison:
Press room votes Tuesday: Sal Da Vinci sixth, Sayf tenth
Radio room votes Thursday: Sal Da Vinci third, Sayf fourth
Televoting Thursday: Sal Da Vinci first with 20%, Sayf third with 13%
Total Thursday votes: Sal Da Vinci first, Sayf third
Joint voting (radio + televoting) Wednesday and Thursday. Sal Da Vinci first, Sayf third
Votes (non-influential, duets) from the press room: Sayf fourth, Sal Da Vinci tenth
Radio votes (not influential, duets): Sayf fifth, Sal Da Vinci thirteenth
Votes (non-influential, duets) of the televoting: Sayf second, Sal Da Vinci fourth
Joint votes (non-influential, duets): Sayf second, Sal Da Vinci sixth
Voting on Saturday first phase, radio: Sayf third, Sal Da Vinci sixth
Voting on Saturday first phase, press room: Sayf fourth, Sal Da Vinci sixth
Voting on Saturday first phase, televoting: Sal Da Vinci first 13%, Sayf third 10%
Joint voting on Saturday: Sal Da Vinci first, Sayf second
General classification on Saturday: Sal Da Vinci first, Sayf third
Final round voting, radio: Sal Da Vinci second, Sayf third
Voting final phase press room, Sayf third, Sal Da Vinci fourth
Voting final televoting phase, Sayf first 26%, Sal Da Vinci second 23%
Joint final phase voting: Sayf first, Sal Da Vinci third
Overall votes including previous evenings:
Sal Da Vinci first 22.12%, Sayf second 21.88%.