Veteran broadcasters irked at exclusion from PBS's 50th anniversary

Various veteran broadcasters who have worked with the Public Broadcasting Service over the past decades have vented their disapproval and disappointment at not being invited to the 50^th PBS anniversary inauguration event, held last week.

The common feeling among the side-lined broadcasters is that despite their decades-long contributions to Malta's national broadcaster, they nevertheless were either forgotten, ignored, or side-lined in favour of more recent broadcasting figures.

On Friday, Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi inaugurated the PBS Creativity Hub, sited in the building formerly known as Xandir Malta before it was shut down in the early 1990s.

The event also marked 50 years since the establishment of Malta's national broadcaster in 1962.

However, many were those who work or worked in national broadcasting were irked at not being invited to attend the inauguration and the 50^th anniversary celebration.

Many of them took to Facebook to vent their displeasure and disappointment.

Veteran PBS broadcaster Joe Vella remarked: "The 12 years I spent working with PBS were not appreciated. I would have liked to have been alongside other broadcasters who gave their contribution (even during difficult times) to the national broadcaster. But no invite was forthcoming."

Veteran actor Mario Micallef echoed a similar sentiment, and called for an explanation on the basis upon which the guests for the event were chosen.

"I sympathise. Same as you, I also feel disappointed...it is truly incredible. One sees people who started out yesterday but were invited, while many others were forgotten," Micallef said.

"It seems that, like me, there many irked people. People who gave a contribution far bigger than mine in broadcasting, and despite this, were nevertheless not invited. For this reason, for the sake of transparency, I believe that whomever was responsible for the choice of guests should give an explanation as to how the guests were chosen," he added.

Among those missing from the event were also labour-leaning TV presenters Norman Hamilton and Joe Grima.

Hamilton in particular was vocal about his exclusion from the event:

"I wish to thank Sirs Anton Attard, Joe Mizzi and Joe (Peppi) Azzopardi for this evening having, in a premeditated manner, attempted to obscure from the public that, for the past 23 years, I formed part of "PBS's 50 Years"... shame on you."

Other veteran broadcasters, among which are Lino Mintoff, James Catania, Charles Flores, Marlene Abela, similarly expressed their displeasure at having their contributions to public broadcasting forgotten or ignored in comments or statuses that followed.