The Nationalist Party’s two leadership hopefuls will not be allowed to partake in any debates or even be allowed to mention each other during media interviews in the run-up to the election for party leader, according to a strict set of media rules issued by the party this week.
The media rules, issued by the party’s electoral commission, lay out how Adrian Delia and Alex Borg will be allowed to interact with the media.
The PN said that any interaction with the media must be approved by the party – and that includes appearances on print media, radio, online, television, social media, podcasts, and even opinion pieces.
The party said that the candidates will not be allowed to be interviewed by media houses of other political parties or media houses that the electoral commission “does not approve.”
The guidelines read that the interviews should take place separately for each candidate and not in the form of a debate. “At no point should the two prospective candidates be in an interview at the same time,” the party said.
The party said that any interviews should serve to inform the public about the prospective candidate and their vision for the future of the PN. “At no point can there be a reference, by both the prospective candidate and the interviewer, to the other candidate,” the party said.
Borg and Delia will also have to declare at the start of each interview that at that point they have not been officially approved as candidates. This is because they only officially become candidates once the party’s internal due diligence process decides that they are idoneous to be such.
The guidelines stipulate that every media house must give the same opportunity to both Borg and Delia and cannot interview one but not the other. The length of the interviews should be the same and when possible the interviews should also be aired on the same day, with the order of which one is published first being drawn by lot.
When that isn’t possible, the interview should be aired on the first occasion that the programme in question is published after.
The PN said that if an independent media house does not adhere to these rules, then it will be disqualified from “being given further opportunities during this campaign.”
These rules will count for the next six weeks or so while the due diligence process is ongoing. When that is concluded and the prospective candidates become formal candidates, media houses which do not belong to the PN will not be allowed to interview the two candidates.
This means that all organic media coverage of the two candidates will happen on the Nationalist Party’s media houses. Candidates will be given a schedule of interviews on the party’s television, radio, and print media, and once again there will be no debates between them.
Any candidate who receives an invitation to be a part of a programme or interview with a media house outside of those owned by the PN must refuse it and immediately inform the party of the request, the guidelines read.
The guidelines also say that canvassing is not permitted for now, and that the PN’s political clubs will be made available to each candidate for activities as they may require.
Candidates have also been told that when it comes to social media, they should as much as possible ensure that there is no climate of negativity or antagonism against their competitor.