The Nationalist Party has criticised Carmelo Abela, Minister responsible for state broadcasting, saying his interference in PBS reporting continues to hinder the PN and create an imbalance on the national station.
PN deputy leader David Agius said that what Abela told Parliament on Monday proves that the PN is right when it says that the government has a stronghold on PBS.
Addressing Parliament, Abela said that what is not newsworthy should not be reported: “If you don’t have anything of substance to quote, what is there to quote?” he said on PN complaints that PBS being discriminatory in its (PN’s) regard.
Moreover, Abela called PN’s criticism of PBS as “fake”, stating that PBS had increased its number of news channels and that rather it is the PN that “has not changed”, as it is not able to differentiate between government and party.
Agius said that PBS’s discrimination against the PN is “worryingly” getting from “bad to worse”.
Agius stated that PBS is not allocating any time for mature and serious debates between the Labour and Nationalist parties and that TVM’s second channel is being used as a propaganda tool by the Labour Party.
He went on to say that PBS is obstructing the PN’s messages to reach the people and has furthermore called out the Labour Party for not engaging with some of the PN’s recent pledges.
The PN raised a direct complaint to the Broadcasting Authority against PBS for not featuring its statement about the three public hospitals that have been passed on to the private sector.
This statement was on the topic of health and it is surely in the national interest for it to be reported by the national station.
Agius then gave some statistics to support the PN’s claim of “unequal” time allocated to PN on the 8pm news during the month of September.
He noted how the first seven minutes are reserved for “Labour propaganda” with one minute being allocated to the PN often either before adverts or just after, sometimes even being broadcast after 8.30pm.
He said that during September, the PM was quoted 25 times whereas Nationalist Party leader Bernard Grech was “only” quoted 16 times. PL cabinet members including the PM were quoted 102 times whereas PN cabinet members including PN leader were quoted 48 times.
Furthermore, he noted that PBS hasn’t shown any PN voice clips on the 8pm news during the month of September whereas 34 PL voice clips were broadcast along with nine interviews featuring the PM whilst none featuring the PN leader.
Both Agius and Psaila Zammit pledged for the Broadcasting Authority to take the necessary steps to stop the Labour Party’s undemocratic dominance on PBS.