Next PBS chief should be picked through public, transparent call – MEP

The Nationalist MEP Peter Agius has called for a transparent, public selection process to pick the next CEO of the Public Broadcasting Services.

Historically a guarded choice for any of Malta’s prime ministers keen on setting the tone of the public broadcaster, Agius said the EU’s Media Freedom Act now mandated that roles within public broadcasters must be filled through a transparent and public selection process.

PBS executive chairman Mark Sammut will leave his post without no successor yet being appointed. Sammut, once a close confidant to former Nationalist minister and European commission John Dalli, had clashed with former PBS head of news Norma Saliba, who resigned her post. PBS is still without an official editor who runs the newsroom. 

Under Sammut the station introduced two new stations TVMNews+ and TVMsports, but the television channels continue to be hammered by criticism of biased news reporting by the PN.

“With the general election approaching, where citizens have the right to access full and impartial information, the government should ensure that the successor to Mark Sammut as the head of PBS is appointed via a public call,” Aigus said.

While the regulation of the EU Media Freedom Act officially comes into force in August next year, Agius said that unless the government intends to appoint a CEO for a few months only, it should start adhering to the principles of the Media Freedom Act now with a public call.

“This would be an important first step toward improving media freedom in the country,” Agius said.

Under the EU Media Freedom Act, member states must ensure that public service media providers are editorially and functionally independent and provide in an impartial manner a plurality of information and opinions to their audiences.

Member States must also ensure that the procedures for the appointment and the dismissal of the head of management or the members of the management board of public service media providers guarantee the independence of public service media providers.

“The head of management or the members of the management board of public service media providers shall be appointed on the basis of transparent, open, effective and non-discriminatory procedures and transparent, objective, non-discriminatory and proportionate criteria laid down in advance at national level. The duration of their term of office shall be sufficient for the effective independence of public service media providers,” the law states.