RTK 103 and Andrew Azzopardi said they are to take legal action in an effort to nullify the Broadcasting Authority’s decision to fine both the presenter and the station, after the presenter described the far-right leader Norman Lowell as a racist, a statement said Saturday.

RTK 103 will be requesting a judicial review in Court of the Broadcasting Authority decision through which a fine of €6,410 was imposed on the station.

RTK 103 said it steadfastly maintains that the term ‘racist’ used by Andrew Azzopardi was based on evidence which includes a Court of Appeal judgment (Police vs Norman Lowell) under which Lowell was convicted of inciting racial hatred and sentenced to a term of imprisonment of 15 months suspended for three years.

More recently, in another Court judgement (Norman Lowell vs Saviour Balzan, Kurt Sansone, Matthew Vella), the Court of Appeal held that any reasonable reader can derive racism, xenophobia and hatred from Lowell’s political messages. 

Lowell himself is even on record describing himself as a ‘racialist’ - which by any dictionary definition means racist. The term ‘racist’ was used on the basis of incontrovertible evidence. RTK 103 maintains it was therefore a fair value judgement based on facts, the station said.

Confusingly, the Broadcasting Authority has itself on more than one occasion fined TV stations after Lowell appeared on their programmes and yet in the case of RTK 103 it insisted that he should be granted airtime on Andrew Azzopardi’s programme.

Meanwhile, the “potential breach” quoted by the Authority’s CEO was on a hypothetical scenario which did not take place, and which was presented to the CEO of the Authority when interviewed on radio where she had all the liberty to explain.

It is also questionable why, in its accusation, the Authority was selective in quoting Andrew Azzopardi and omitted the sentence which clearly showed that he was asking about a scenario on the BA’s directives which are not yet in place, the station said.  

The approach adopted by the Broadcasting Authority sets a dangerous precedent for the Maltese media, particularly when the Authority insists that the station ought to give airtime to Normal Lowell to broadcast his racist views. The station was unequivocal from the start that it will not entertain or tolerate racial hatred.

It is also unclear why the Broadcasting Authority first treated the issue raised by Imperium Europa as a complaint and scheduled a date for the hearing to take place, and at a second stage decided to adopt a different procedure and issue an accusation against the station as it felt this was in breach of the Broadcasting Act.

Following Andrew Azzopardi’s interview with the CEO of the Broadcasting Authority in which the term racist was used, no complaint from the BA was forthcoming until Imperium Europa demanded that the Authority intervene.

Furthermore, RTK 103 is perturbed by the fact that the board secretary of the Broadcasting Authority is a former general secretary of Imperium Europa.

RTK 103 and Andrew Azzopardi have launched a crowdfunding campaign to cover the legal fees for the station to pursue this case in Court.

The aim is to defend the two fundamental principles: the right of every individual not to be discriminated against on the basis of race or ethnicity; and the right of freedom of expression which is a vital component of a free and functioning media in our society.