PBS exposed to government manipulation - Sant

The so-called restructuring of Public Broadcasting Services has ended up being "nothing other than its dismantling", leaving the station exposed to blatant manipulation by the government, Labour leader Alfred Sant said yesterday.

"The station is in a serious administrative and moral crisis," Dr Sant emphasised. Speaking just outside Television House during a press conference, he called in a reaction to the double surprise resignations of Andrew Agius Muscat, PBS chairman, and Fr Joe Borg, chairman of the editorial board.

Dr Sant said PBS saw a chairman resign each year over the past three years, starting with Austin Sammut in 2003, Michael Mallia in 2004 and Andrew Agius Muscat last week.

Dr Sant said that, leaving aside the fact that nobody seemed to be able to work with Minister Austin Gatt, the whole story was also proof of the fiasco that the so-called restructuring of the station has been. The same process came under fire by the Ombudsman, he pointed out, who had highlighted irregularities with interviews for certain posts.

In fact, the whole process ultimately had a political objective and nothing other.

PBS, on one hand, was rendered a skeleton of what it was supposed to be, which meant that it could not fulfil its role as a national television station properly. On the other hand, it was being manipulated by government-leaning individuals who had been given influential positions precisely for this purpose.

The list, Dr Sant mentioned, in this connection included Fr Borg himself, under whose editorship, the PBS newsroom produced consistently manipulated bulletins, which played down Labour activities... while giving government propaganda top coverage.

Next in line were Where's Everybody?, a production house which, Dr Sant said, upheld the government's agenda. Similarly, Dr Sant made reference to programmes on PBS, which, he said, were being farmed out to blue-eyed boys.

The dire situation at PBS was magnified by the fact that the Broadcasting Authority - the constitutional broadcasting watchdog - was inoperative at the moment because there was no chairman, Dr Sant said.

When asked during the press conference how he would deal with the manipulation he had mentioned when he was in government - especially with regard to companies such as Where's Everybody? - Dr Sant said that Labour would like to see the setting up of a serious and trust-worthy board that could make strategic and editorial decisions.

Asked about the situation with the Broadcasting Authority, Dr Sant said that, despite the fact that Labour had at first criticized the PN's decision to appoint former Chief Justice Joseph Said Pullicino, during his tenure he proved to be fair and therefore the MLP suggested that he be reappointed - but the government would not have it.

The IT and Investments Ministry, in a reaction to Dr Sant's comments, challenged Dr Sant to say in which respect the station had deteriorated, saying that financially and in terms of viewership the station was doing well.

As for the people who were contracted to produce programmes for the station, the ministry said that the selection followed a transparent process on which so far no court or body had ever cast any doubts.

With regard to the reportage of the PBS news bulletin, the ministry said Dr Sant had more appearances on the station's news than had Dr Gonzi this year.