Minister Konrad Mizzi should not invite only selected journalists to events related with his ministry, the Commissioner for Standards in Public Life has ruled.

Commissioner Hyzler was asked to rule on a complaint filed by Times of Malta after the newspaper, along with other media houses including The Malta Independent, had not been informed by the Minister and his staff for an event at the Malta Film Commission, where he have interviews only to One News and PBS.

The complaint had been filed as such conduct had been deemed to breach the ministerial code of conduct which lays down that “ministers shall inform the public and the media of ministerial activities on a regular basis and in an organised manner.”

The minister argued that the code of conduct did not mention specific media organisations and that Times of Malta “had been openly and persistently hostile in his regard”.

In his ruling, Hyzler noted that the only two media to be invited for the event were the state broadcasting station and the station affiliated to Mizzi’s political party. This gave unfair advantage to these two media houses.

Hyzler did not find Mizzi in breach of the code of conduct but, in a meeting with the minister, he (Hyzler) had openly expressed his concerns about the practice he (Mizzi) had adopted.

Hyzler ruled that as a matter of good practice ministers should adopt “ a non-discriminatory approach in dealing with the press and that a more transparent system of invitations should be put in place”.