Labour in major offensive against PBS, ‘a network for the PN’s electoral campaign’

Labour MP Gino Cauchi today hit out at the Public Broadcasting Services in a dissection of what he called its "politically biased agenda" and "crass reporting" on the current parliamentary stalemate.

Cauchi gave journalists a rundown of several news bulletins to illustrate what he felt was a deliberate attempt to play down the Opposition's political statements or the troubles faced by the government in parliament and the mounting threat of Franco Debono voting against the Budget.

"We are seriously concerned that a network has been created inside PBS to help the Nationalist Party," Cauchi said, listing its top officials as being party to an effort to assist the PN in its upcoming electoral campaign.

"CEO Anton Attard was formerly chief of Net TV and a main member of the PN's electoral strategy team in 2008; the head of news Natalino Fenech is allowing his political agenda to influence news bulletins; former Net TV journalists and a minister's spokesperson Mario Xuereb has been appointed junior manager for current affairs programmes; and former PN journalist and MEPA board secretary Sylvana Debono is now online content manager," Cauchi said.

He also singled out former Net TV head of news Pierre Portelli and former PN propaganda chief Lou Bondì of having an undue influence on PBS programming trough their regular current affairs programmes.

"PBS is going to be used as an integral part of the PN's propaganda machine and for us this is unacceptable. The Broadcasting Act demands impartiality and fairness in politically controversial news items, but Natalino Fenech's political bias is now being taken as PBS policy, in breach of the broadcasting law.

Cauchi shows clips from PBS news bulletins which he said had attributed the PN's spin on Joseph Muscat's statements on minimum wage, directly to the Labour leader, contrary to what Muscat had actually said; and that his reply to the PN's statements on minimum wage was relegated to the fifth news item on the next day's bulletin on 23 September.

Cauchi also presented further examples of items that had failed to make the PBS news bulletin, among them, the courtesy title of ambassador to Richard Cachia Caruana, who had to resign after a motion of censure by the House of Representatives; the failure of TVAM to discuss the political stalemate after Franco Debono announced he would not vote in favour of the budget; as well as denouncing a sloppy reporting of the parliamentary session in which Debono declared his threat not to vote for the Budget, which was only mentioned 90 seconds into the parliamentary news report.

Asked by MaltaToday how would a Labour government guarantee impartiality by the individuals it would appoint to head PBS, Cauchi insisted that were "several professional people capable of putting aside partisan politics and produce balanced work".

"What I could guarantee is that Malta, under a Labour government, would have a true State TV run by professional people," he said, adding there were people who today not necessarily work for media houses.

Replying to a question raised by a PBS journalist, Cauchi said that his criticism was not directed at PBS employees but at the leadership of the station. He also reassured the workers that "contrary to spreading rumours, no PBS worker will be made redundant" in the eventuality of a Labour government.