No breach of privacy found in former PBS chairman case

The Press Ethics Commission has found there was no breach of privacy in the airing of footage that caught the former PBS chairman Joe Mizzi collapsing to the floor, at a Eurovision after-party in Dusseldorf.

Mizzi, who denied having been inebriated during his embarrassing display at the Eurovision after-party, claimed he had been the victim of a character assassination after the footage was aired on MaltaToday.com.mt.

The PEC said it had found a breach of ethics against Mizzi, but affirmed that the general public had an interest in being informed of such episodes. It said the information given to Illum editor Julia Farrugia was published “before its accuracy had been diligently verified.”

The PEC said the story appearing in Illum under the title ‘Ic-Chairman tal-PBS patata’ gave the impression that the PBS chairman had been drinking excessively.

It also said that Mizzi had been contacted two days before publication without having seen the footage. The footage had actually been given to the Minister for Education, as the person responsible for the public broadcasting service.

The PEC also claimed the story discredited the comments given by Mizzi by asking him whether he felt his position as PBS chairman was tenable, given the contents of the footage.

This last observation led the PEC to find a breach of journalistic ethics for unethical behaviour and character assassination, claiming that the story aimed at attacking Mizzi in his public role as PBS chairman by attacking his reputation and not investigating the case enough.

The PEC passed a sanction of grave censure, and communicated its decision to the Institute of Maltese Journalists.

Joseph Mizzi’s version of events

Mizzi told the PEC that while in Dusseldorf, he attended a Eurovision after-party to meet up with members of the Azerbaijaini delegation. Mizzi, describing himself as a social drinker, said he had had two glasses of white wine and four shots of Jagermeister during the evening, before later getting a Coca-Cola.

He also claimed that he consumed chicken noodles and sushi which aggravated him slightly because he said he suffered from a weak spleen.

Although he had no doctors’ tests carried out on his condition, Mizzi told the PEC his doctor Frank Portelli ‘concluded’ that he must have been under the influence of Valium.

The PEC also noted that Mizzi temporarily strayed away from the Maltese delegation he was with, at which point the said amateur footage of him collapsing to the floor was shot.

Mizzi claimed he was “totally lost” although the PEC noted that in the footage he is seen responding clearly to a foreign guest asking him where he was from.

Mizzi also said he has reported the person who allegedly shot the footage, to the police for investigation.

Julia Farrugia’s version of events

Julia Farrugia reiterated the comments relayed to her by Mizzi, who was contacted for comment before publication of the news story, namely that he complained of having had a bug, that he felt he hadn’t drank any more than necessary, and that he was correctly reported as to what he had drank.

Mizzi confirmed that his comments were faithfully reported.

Farrugia said she supplied the footage to the education ministry (responsible for PBS) on Saturday 21 May, having received no official answer. Instead she received a telephone call from the singer Paul Giordimaina, who accompanied Mizzi to Dusseldorf to tell her that the footage did not “give the whole picture”.

Mediation attempt denied

Mediatoday was denied a mediation attempt with the former PBS chairman Joe Mizzi in an ethics complaint he filed with the Press Ethics Commission, because the commission felt there was “no useful scope for mediation.”

The request had been made by Illum editor Julia Farrugia, against whom Mizzi’s complaint was filed, saying the PEC had not adhered to clause 22 of its guidelines which states that the commission must “offer to the parties the possibility of acting as a mediator in order to reach between them an amicable settlement of the dispute.”

PEC chairman Dr Kevin Dingli claimed that this request had no “useful scope” and that both parties each had lawyers “of considerable experience”.

He also claimed in his decision that no mention was made of any mediation, when Farrugia had formally registered her complaint on clause 22 on 30 July 2011.

PEC member and Allied Newspapers columnist Claire Bonello also withdrew her vote when her presence on the committee was flagged as a possible conflict of interest due to comments she posted in favour of Mizzi’s predicament, on her Facebook wall.

The PEC said it was authorised to reveal Bonello had voted with the minority, against the alleged breach of ethics.