The 25 applicants for the posts were interviewed by a four-person panel between Wednesday and Friday at Broadcasting House in Guardamangia.

The panel was composed of two MIMCOL representatives, chief executive Andrew Psaila, and former Broadcasting Authority chief executive Antoine Ellul.

Sources indicated that this means the post of manager news and registered editor has not been filled yet, as he or she would have formed part of the selection board.

This situation had already occurred earlier in the internal interviews for the post, when veteran broadcaster Lawrence Mizzi had filled in for the manager news who had not yet been chosen.

As reported two weeks ago inThe Malta Independent on Sunday, the best prospective candidate suddenly changed his/her mind and decided against taking up the post of news manager.

Sources told this newspaper that among the applicants there are a few heavyweights (some less) from other media, especially broadcasters, as well as a sizeable number of university graduates hoping for an unexpected career break with the national broadcaster.

They added that the MIMCOL representatives were not at all knowledgeable about journalism and merely asked a series of questions related to the applicants’ possession of the skills indicated in the job description.

The applicants received the letters telling them about the interview not more than four days before the actual interview took place, in a clear indication that there is a general urgency by PBS to fill the vacancies.

This would enable the company to re-deploy with the government a number of employees in the newsroom who have either not been chosen in the internal interviews, or have not applied for the posts within the new structure at PBS.