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Jeffrey Pullicino Orlando’s surprise vote catches PBS napping
PBS left with no direct link to what turned out important vote.
19 June 2012, 12:00am
Jurgen Balzan
Jurgen Balzan
1 min read
PBS's lack of readiness resulted in national television not broadcasting what turned out to be an important vote.
Complete surprise and a lack of preparation left the Public Broadcasting Services with no direct link to Parliament during Monday's vote on the Opposition's motion calling for the resignation of Malta's permanent representative to the EU Richard Cachia Caruana.
As sources explained to MaltaToday, the lack of readiness resulted in national television not broadcasting what turned out to be an important vote, as it normally does.
Regular direct links were held from the House during the Opposition motion that called for the resignation of former home affairs minister Carm Mifsud Bonnici.
PBS did not even have enough newsroom staff to cover the whole event. Even other newspapers were caught wrong-footed because they were not present in Parliament when Pullicino Orlando decided to unleash a frontal attack on Cachia Caruana.
Sources at PBS told MaltaToday the reporter covering Opposition leader Joseph Muscat's press conference after Monday's vote was upbraided for not taking Muscat to task on former Labour minister Lino Spiteri's column in The Times, who said civil servants should not be accountable to parliament.
Spiteri wrote that the Opposition's motion was "mystifying" and "misplaced", and that it contradicts Muscat's well-put projection of "a man of ideas with a visionary eye."
Jurgen Balzan was a MaltaToday reported from 2011 to 2017.
Micheal Bonanno •
No wonder PBS was caught napping. They had been informed from above that the sitting will be just a normal one, with the Government gaining the majority of votes against the Opposition's motion. The informer didn't have an inkling about JPO or any other MP for the matter how they're going to vote. The Government and its cronies were caught by surprise. Nobody saw it coming!
Micheal Bonanno •
No wonder PBS was caught napping. They had been informed from above that the sitting will be just a normal one, with the Government gaining the majority of votes against the Opposition's motion. The informer didn't have an inkling about JPO or any other MP for the matter how they're going to vote. The Government and its cronies were caught by surprise. Nobody saw it coming!
•
With people like Natalino Fenech at the helm of the newsroom what do you expect? Or do you still believe in miracles! Pathetic.
•
crossa did you know that Dr Gonzi yesterday had also promised 300 million dollars to the IMF bailout fund?
Albert Mifsud Buckland •
So now we have it. Not RCC's capabilities in the international fora, not his astuteness in dealing with the E.U. Only all this perceived manipulator business. And you know what - everyone and his dog praises RCC's undoubted capabilities to high heaven. Nobody questions his abilities - indeed all - even the opposition - do not remotely question these and on the contrary pass positive comments. Unbelieveable. We have now a huge emptiness to fill.... just at the time when it is imperative that we are all there and fully concentrated on the issues bedevilling the EU. Yet in Malta we change horses in the middle of the race. And what for...just for the hell of saying I had it my way. And then they blame RCC for having it his way and this in defense of our country.
Albert Mifsud Buckland •
So now we have it. Not RCC's capabilities in the international fora, not his astuteness in dealing with the E.U. Only all this perceived manipulator business. And you know what - everyone and his dog praises RCC's undoubted capabilities to high heaven. Nobody questions his abilities - indeed all - even the opposition - do not remotely question these and on the contrary pass positive comments. Unbelieveable. We have now a huge emptiness to fill.... just at the time when it is imperative that we are all there and fully concentrated on the issues bedevilling the EU. Yet in Malta we change horses in the middle of the race. And what for...just for the hell of saying I had it my way. And then they blame RCC for having it his way and this in defense of our country.
