Newly elected PL Deputy Leader for Party Affairs Chris Cardona said this afternoon that he never promised Labour delegates to “change things” at PBS but said he wanted to ensure that the national broadcaster was more balanced when it came to political parties and current affairs programmes.

According to newspaper Illum, Dr Cardona’s team sent an SMS to delegates ‘promising decisions at PBS.’ According to an unnamed member of his campaign team, Dr Cardona was referring specifically to Xarbank.  Dr Cardona had said on TVM’s Dissett that the hostility towards him during an edition of Xarabank was “incredible.”

“I felt that I was in a minority when I am a Minister in a government that is supposed to give political direction to PBS,” he had told presenter Reno Bugeja.

He told this newspaper today that he had not only spoken out in that SMS but had also done so publicly during his campaign. “I have nothing to add to what I had said on Dissett about what I feel should be reformed at PBS, so that there is a balance.”

Asked what authority he had to promise to change things at PBS, seeing that his recent appointment was to a party role and he was not, as minister, responsible for state broadcasting, Dr Cardona said:  “I did not promise change at PBS. What I said is that there should be balance with regards to current affairs programmes and that it is unacceptable for some programmes to speak only about sensational anti-PL stories but not about all the good that it is doing.”

So how, as PL Deputy Leader, could he ensure that PBS content was more balanced, we asked. “Because political parties monitor current affairs programmes on PBS and they should be comforted by a balance in content. There should be no tilt in favour of one party or the other.”

Asked to clarify, Dr Cardona said one of the remedies available was the Broadcasting Authority and “ensuring that there is a balanced editorial policy.”

The PL Deputy Leader insisted his argument did not undermine Justice Minister Owen Bonnici, who is politically responsible for PBS and was one of three contenders for last week’s PL election. “In fact I praised his performance throughout my campaign, particularly his decisions in the justice sector.”

Video/Photo Jonathan Borg