MLP claims censorship by BA

The Labour Party yesterday said it was being censored by the Broadcasting Authority at the request of the Malta-EU Information Centre, which had insisted on the removal of a phrase in the original format of one of its spots.

The BA had then continued its censorship even after the change was made, the MLP said in a statement.

The MLP said in a statement it had removed the section objected to and replaced it with the words "Censurat" (censorship).

But the BA was still refusing to air the spot, which was part of the schedule of political broadcasts on Public Broadcasting Services and which criticised the workings of MIC.

However, in a letter to the MLP's media executive, the authority denied it had censored the spot.

It informed the MLP that the spot could not be broadcast, describing it as defamatory.

In its statement, the MLP said the spot had been broadcast 16 times since the beginning of May and the BA had found no objection to it until it received a complaint from MIC.

The worst part was that MIC was now finding the support of the BA, which was "censoring" the MLP, the statement said.