Cauchi on PBS rampage: ‘State broadcasting a government’s notice-board’

Labour MP Gino Cauchi has claimed monitoring figures for PBS news bulletin items presented in parliament by minister Dolores Cristina, are betrayed by the party;s own monitoring exercise of the state TV's news bulletins.

A regular critic of state broadcaster PBS and TVM's head of news Natalino Fenech, Cauchi - a former TVM news anchor - said a monitoring exercise of the first nine months of 2012 showed contrasting results to those presented in parliament, and proved that TVM news was clearly partial to the Nationalist government, and creating an imbalance when it comes to reporting Labour activities and policies.

"In the first five months of the year, more comments from government representatives were broadcast than that being claimed for October 2011-May 2012 as presented in the House in reply to a PQ," Cauchi said.

"This cooking of figures shows that the actual proportion of PBS coverage has not been officially issued."

Cauchi also said a selection of TVM news that is broadcast for Australian viewers is also partial towards the government of the day, citing as an example a news item concerning dubious claims by the prime minister on the relocation of Brazilian company Oderbrecht from Libya to Malta.

"This attitude from PBS has to stop, now more than ever as we approach the general elections. State broadcasting must show a high level of impartiality in its reporting of current affairs."