In the space of a few short weeks, PBS has been condemned on three fronts: by the Broadcasting Authority, the National Audit Office and by its own employees.

The Broadcasting Authority censured the public broadcaster after finding it guilty of serious shortcomings in its news reporting. The National Audit Office found its financial management lacking and its own newsroom staff have appeared before the Industrial Tribunal to accuse PBS of discrimination.

The employees: some PBS journalists are more equal than others

PBS journalists have filed an application before the Industrial Tribunal claiming that a newly employed PBS journalist, doing the same job as other journalists, has been given a salary that is considerably higher than those of all the other experienced journalists working in the same newsroom.

Last week, The Malta Independent on Sunday also reported that the PBS journalists had initially attempted to resolve the issue amicably, albeit unsuccessfully, because it seems that the Minister responsible, Owen Bonnici, the Chief Executive and the Head of News have – like one of the three monkeys – seen no evil. Following TMIS’s report and request for comments, they simply did a Pontius Pilate. It seems that nobody had anything to do with the decision.

L-Orizzzont, the General Workers Union daily newspaper, chose to attack the credibility of these journalists as if they were not also employees fighting for their rights. As a matter of fact, the GWU knew only too well what was going on at PBS as it was itself negotiating on behalf of its member employees who were also aggrieved by the decision of the PBS administration to discriminate in favour of one newly-engaged but apparently preferred journalist.

The Auditor-General: PBS is in dire financial straits

A few weeks back I tabled a parliamentary question about PBS’s current state of debts but Mr Bonnici chose to reply by not replying at all. In the meantime, it had already been rumoured that PBS was not in a position to honour payroll obligations last November, whilst service providers have been continuously complaining that they have not been paid since June 2014. Former Labour Party Secretary-General Jason Micallef was also hitting out at PBS, saying that it was actually bankrupt. All this was clearly signalling that PBS was in dire financial straits but, nevertheless, the Minister reassured the house that PBS was not in a financial mess. Now it transpires that just the opposite is true.  

The National Audit Office has reported to Parliament that PBS has suffered financial losses of circa €3.5 million in two-and-a-half years and it is projected that in the current financial years things will only get worse, despite PBS generating private sponsorship revenues and receiving a state grant of around €3 million a year in the form of what is known as its ‘Public Service Obligation’.

There is no doubt that one of the main contributing factors of this increased annual deficit is the grossly increased payroll to accommodate Taghna Lkoll Labour Party faithful.

The Broadcasting Authority: PBS economical with the truth

The Broadcasting Authority has found that PBS seriously failed its duties when it did not immediately report the ‘Nigi Ghalik u Nifqak’ incident in parliament, which immediately became a social media hit. Senior Labour MP Joe Debono Grech had been heard threatening fellow MP Marlene Farrugia and the incident was reported by all the media houses – except PBS, of course.

Head of News Reno Bugeja came up with plenty of excuses for his failure but unfortunately none of them were valid. The News Room of the public broadcaster – which is the news room he heads and directs – has simply been economical with the truth.

As this article will be published on the last Sunday of the year, I would like to wish the Editor and staff at The Malta Independent on Sunday, as well as our readers, a very happy New Year.