The Broadcasting Authority said it was ‘not satisfied’ with the level of balance achieved by PBS in a decision on a complaint filed by the Nationalist Party, and has reprimanded the national broadcaster.
The Nationalist Party had filed a complaint against the balance shown by PBS. The PN had said that in 2023, there were 351 Sound-On-Tape (SOTs) of PL members, and only 27 sound on tapes of PN members.
In its decision, the board made reference to the elements that constitute a news bulleting, which include voice clips, SOTs, coverages, people invited to give their views, reportage of press conferences, and other elements. It noted that “SOTs alone are not always sufficient so that in the lack of views of different political parties, imbalance is found.”
It said that it is of the opinion that while SOTs are indeed part of the news bulletin, the main focus on the concept of balance should be on the entire broadcast. “It is also noted that numerical statistics are not of primary importance where SOTs are concerned and this is due to various reasons including where there is no political controversy or where no current policy is being addressed. However, while it is obvious and expected that the number of SOTs from government speakers exceeds that of other political parties, it cannot be said that they do not have the right to start controversy themselves, or that they lose the occasion of an SOT simply as they did not organise a specific activity on the theme. Because of all these aspects, no automatic light can be turned on regarding the element of balance simply from numerical statistics. This is also evident from the example of when the Prime Minister makes a visit to another country and where there is no doubt that an SOT is taken in this case. But when this example or similar situations are followed by a number of other SOTs from Ministers, this serves only to increase the imbalance.”
That is why, the Board said, it went on to evaluate the themes of SOTs and observed that according to the Authority’s statistics, in the case of November 2023 for example, the month of the budget, during which there was also a strike organised by the Malta Union of Teachers, “a notable imbalance existed between Government SOTs and those of other political parties.”
In a decision on Monday, the Broadcasting Authority said that for these reasons, the board is “not satisfied with the level of balance reached by the public broadcaster, at least in the months in which there was reasonable expectation of diverse political views.” It said that the fact that analysis of balance is not an easy one should not serve as an automatic defence for the “noticeable imbalances in various elements that constitute the news bulletins. That is why the Board is upholding this complaint and is reprimanding PBS,” it said, directing PBS to do its utmost and take comments from the Opposition, and where needed of other parties in cases of political controversies or current policies.” If it repeats this failure, the Broadcasting Authority said, “there would be no other road except for ulterior measures.”
It also issued a statement which PBS must has to air in its news bulletin.
In a seperate statement, the Nationalist Party said that the Broadcasting Authority directed PBS to take comments from the Opposition where there are themes of political controversy. “Robert Abela, because he is weak and has his back against the wall, is using what is meant to be the public broadcaster to try and hide the pigging out by him and his friends,” the PN said.
