The Broadcasting Authority has upheld a complaint by the Nationalist Party after the latter complained that PBS created a political imbalance by airing several government budget advertst.

The authority noted that such adverts were political in nature and, as such, the PN should have been given the opportunity to have its say on the subject. It ordered PBS to give the PN 15 minutes worth of 30-second spots to react to last month’s budget.

In a statement, the PN noted that such adverts should be considered as political adverts that are prohibited at law unless they are part of a broadcast schedule authorisied by the Broadcasting Authority.

Last week, it emerged that the government spent over €430,000 in budget advertising.

 

Three other complaints dismissed

The BA, on the other hand, dismissed another three complaints that had been filed by the PN.

The first regarded an instruction by PBS to producers of current affairs programmes to state the subject of their shows 15 days before the airing date. PBS lawyer Mark Vassallo had argued that this was not intended to stifle discussion but rather to avoid having different programmes covering the same topic. The producers, he said, could still change the subject of the programme at the last minute. The authority dismissed the complaint, saying this was an internal matter.

It also turned down a complaint by the PN over the invitation of Labour electoral candidates as guests on a TV show. The BA said it could not uphold the complaint since the people in questions had not talked about political issues.

The third complaint to be shot down was about PBS’ failure to report a PN statement on Steward Health Care. The BA said the PN’s views on the matter had been reported on other occasions.