Former MEP candidate Norman Lowell was interviewed on the 5 June edition of the programme Minibus. The authority claimed the last part of this programme contained elements that encouraged criminal activity and offended public sentiments.

The authority said that no legal action has been taken against Mr Lowell. Although it is aware of the right to free speech, the Broadcasting Authority had to restrict this right within reasonable limits to safeguard democracy.

The last part of the Minibus programme contained material that should have been censored, the Broadcasting Authority said. Smash TV was well aware of Mr Lowell’s political stance and was therefore obliged to take all the necessary measures to ensure that no objectionable material was broadcast.

The authority said the station was wrong to allow Mr Lowell’s interviewer to pose questions it knew would result in objectionable responses and fined the television station on the grounds that it could not shirk responsibility for the broadcast by claiming it did not know what Mr Lowell was going to say. In response to this, Smash TV has filed a judicial protest claiming that the authority had no right to judge a case that it had filed itself.