Updated | PBS announces legal proceedings over BA judgement

The Broadcasting Authority has issued a scathing judgement of TVM presenter Lou Bondì for his "incorrect attitude and lack of impartiality" during the Bondiplus edition of 10 January in which he hosted Labour and Nationalist deputy leaders Toni Abela and Simon Busuttil on the subject of Labour's proposal to reduce energy bills.

The decision was published following a complaint filed by the Labour Party.

In reaction, PBS announced that it would be "immediately" insituting legal proceedings against the Broadcasting Authority.

In a statement, PBS said that the BA's judgement is in breach of the Constitution and the principle of natural justice, given that "[the BA] has not allowed PBS a fair hearing in the cases that the BA presented against it."

"At this stage, sufficed to say that members of the BA are systemically showing, without concealment, their antagonism against PBS, even during the hearing of the complaints," PBS said, adding that this is "to the detriment of PBS's rights and those of its journalists."

PBS added that it already has pending cases before the courts regarding this issue, and in the course of hearings it has presented various documents that show "clearly and conclusively that some members of the BA publicly express not only a political bias, but also a bias against individual journalists."

The PBS also accused members of the BA of publically displaying political bias despite how those same members exercise a position where they judge others on the basis of political bias.

In its judgment, the BA, which includes two representatives each from both the PN and PL apart from its chairman, said Bondì "will have to carry responsibility for the way the programme is conducted and ensure that he does not get involved in squabbles with his guests."

The authority also found that the clips employed by Bondiplus throughout the discussion were solely aimed at putting the Labour deputy leader in particular difficulty, "by showing one side only of the subject under discussion" in breach of broadcasting laws.

"The ultimate responsibility in the way a programme is run lies with the presenter, but the participation of both the guests and that of the presenter must facilitate the discussion and allow viewers to understand and follow the arguments being made, something which did not happen in this programme."

TVM will have to broadcast a synthesis of the BA's decision within seven days of the directive's publication.

In their complaint, Labour accused Bondì of having acted incorrectly towards Abela with "constant interruptions and an attempt to extract a forced reply as willed by the presenter." Labour also accused Bondì of making "evidently partisan and hostile questioning", as well as showing a lack of impartiality in his questioning when compared to that made to Busuttil, as well as a breach of broadcasting regulations.

Labour president Stefan Zrinzo Azzopardi submitted to the BA that Bondiplus had employed clips intended to assist the PN deputy leader while displaying an aggressive attitude towards the Labour deputy leader.

Among the clips were those of the Prime Minister's visit to Berlin where he met German Chancellor Angela Merkel, which Zrinzo Azzopardi said were sued as a cue for Simon Busuttil to remark on Malta's economic performance. Zrinzo Azzopardi said no clip with favourable commentary on Labour's proposals was broadcast during the programme.

Toni Abela himself told the BA that Bondì had placed him in an embarrassing position by disclosing that he had had a series of telephone conversations with him prior to the programme, by alleging that Abela had attempted to put pressure on the presenter ahead of the programme, which Abela denied.

On his part, Bondì submitted an affidavit duly signed on 17 January, in which he declared that he had told Abela before the programme that he would discuss the Labour proposal for a new gas terminal and power station; that this was mentioned in two separate phone calls, and in which Abela attempted to persuade him to discuss other subjects and not just the energy proposal, amongst them the party logos and slogans.

Bondì insisted throughout the hearing that Abela wanted to influence the discussion by refusing to answer questions that were put to him, and instead focus on the questions he felt should be put to Busuttil.