Justice minister hails PBS as ‘model of impartiality’

Justice minister Owen Bonnici toasted PBS as a “model of impartiality” that is constantly punching above its weight.

“Despite all the complaints, criticism and press conferences by the Opposition, the Broadcasting Authority has not once since 2013 ruled that PBS breached its rules on political impartiality,” he said in Parliament.

He praised PBS’ chairperson Tonio Portughese and its head of news Reno Bugeja as people who “command respect from everyone”, and said he receives internal criticism because he has not replaced Anton Attard – former head of NET TV – as the national broadcaster’s chairperson.

Bonnici - under whose portfolio PBS falls - also praised the national broadcaster its recent coverage of all the games in the Euro2016 tournament.

“Malta must have been one of the only countries whose citizens were able to watch the entire tournament free of charge on the national broadcaster, while maintain the right to also see the games on unscrambled TV channels.

“In terms of size, PBS cannot be compared with the likes of RAI and BBC, but with smaller TV stations. However, it is constantly punching above its weight and indeed people don’t compare it with similarly sized TV stations like Italia7 but with much larger stations.”