PN MEP candidate Peter Agius has called for an open selection procedure to fill the post of PBS Head of News, following the resignation of Norma Saliba.

Norma Saliba has resigned as TVM's head of news, a post she had occupied since 2020. She had been harshly criticised as having a pro government bias during the course of her tenure.

"I never took revenge in my work and never took advantage of my position to back or break someone. Despite this over the past weeks I became a victim of a misleading campaign which had the sole scope of character assassination. Those who know me well did not believe the lies said about me," Saliba had said in her resignation announcement.

Peter Agius has said that Saliba's departure from PBS "gives Labour the chance to walk the talk on media freedom."

Agius said that Minister Bonnici had welcomed the new EU Media Freedom Act in media comments in Brussels last year. "The proposed EU Regulation provides inter alia for the transparent selection of Head of News and Board of Directors for publicly funded TV stations."

"Now, Bonnici has the chance to walk the talk with the Head of News vacancy in PBS. If the Minister's words in Brussels are worth anything, Government should guarantee that the next Head of News at PBS is recruited through an open call with fair and transparent criteria, as called by Article 5 in the mentioned EU Media Freedom Law welcomed by Bonnici himself," said Agius.

"Article 5 of the Regulation in fact lays down that: 'The head of management and the members of the governing board of public service media providers shall be appointed through a transparent, open and non-discriminatory procedure and on the basis of transparent, objective, non-discriminatory and proportionate criteria." The MEP candidate said.

"Malta's democratic and transparency credentials have been slipping down dramatically under Labour's watch with PBS frequently condemned by the courts for political bias in its reporting. This is one opportunity that the Labour government should not miss. We simply cannot afford to have another PBS head of news hand-picked by Castille."