War correspondent and former RAI television news director Lucia Annunziata has been named president of state broadcaster RAI less than 24 hours after Paolo Mieli's tumultuous resignation.

The decision has been met with approval by Italy's majority politicians and skepticism by the opposition who complain that they had nothing to do with her nomination.

The dual position of president and board member was meant to be filled by an opposition nominee, to offset the other four board members who were handpicked by Italian president Silvio Berlusconi's governing coalition.

Opposition leaders state that Berlusconi "will accept anything, except an autonomous and competitive RAI," and have already criticized Annunziata, a respected television and print journalist, for taking no strong position on reinstating RAI's ratings leader, political talk show host Michele Santoro, dismissed last year for being too critical of Berlusconi.

"I have no ties to the political world, neither with the majority nor the opposition," said Annunziata in Italy's daily newspaper La Repubblica. "This is the best way to produce something decent, and one step at a time."