PBS resignations

Andrew Agius Muscat's and Fr Joe Borg's statements regarding their resignations from PBS Ltd leave me wondering what really lies behind them. I tend to believe that Fr Joe's quitting was not related to a fall-out with Investments Minister Austin Gatt. The second resignation, however, is doubtful.

Both former chairmen speak of Dr Gatt's respect vis-à-vis the independence of their respective offices. How dare they do so when practically they could hardly move without the ministry's blessing? How can they justify their independence in the wake of the news manager affair or the station's rebranding issue? How did they conclude that Minister Gatt is the institution's shareholder? Had he truly been, he still had no mandate to manage the enterprise.

I always maintained that in order to upgrade our public broadcasting services it was paramount to adopt the principles of the BBC and accept the fact that the board of directors needs to be truly autonomous and directly responsible to the people. Until then, we shall continue to experience a public broadcasting service that swings with every change of government.

I was recently introduced to a very respectable cleric, who seems to share my views on the station's poor standards. In the course of our conversation he mentioned that Fr Joe was on his way out of PBS but did not elaborate.

It so happened that a few weeks later another cleric I met at a social do said that Fr Joe's resignation followed a Curia's ultimatum. He also said that other clerics seem to be in the Curia's firing line.

It was public knowledge that Fr Joe's relationship with the Curia was seriously strained after he was forced to leave office at RTK. Things got even worse when the Archbishop's Curia, unsuccessfully, warned Fr Joe not to accept the PBS appointment. Hence, the sudden withdrawal from participating further "in the exercise of civil power" makes a lot of sense.

A positive note in Fr Joe's declaration is, no doubt, the fact that he will be seeking new pastures (pastoral or otherwise). I sincerely wish him every success in his endeavours.

Mr Agius Muscat's statement that he resigned as he could not cope with the two positions he held raises eyebrows given that, at the time of his appointment, we were told he possesses excellent managerial skills. How could a person with such skills fail to realise what he was going in for? What really made him step down?

The statement that the two resignations were coincidental is hard to digest. Surely, Mr Agius Muscat could have held on to his appointment for a little while longer. One would have expected he would have given Dr Gatt a reasonable time to come up with a successor. Was there more than meets the eye?

It has been reported that Dr Gatt was about to announce the appointment of a new chief executive officer at PBS. If that were indeed the case, where did the appointee come from? Only recently the minister declared it was difficult to find people of any nationality to fill the post of CEO and that of news manager. Yet, both appointees were virtually sitting on his lap.

My advice to Dr Gatt is to disband the editorial board. It is simply superfluous. Whose bright idea was it to have two captains at the helm of PBS?

Every effort must be made, even in the appointment of new members of the board of directors, to strive to bring about efficiency, a cut in unnecessary expenses and, above all, an overall improvement in public broadcasting services generally.

The minister/government should consider upgrading the post of chairman of the board of directors to an executive role. He should also be very careful when making such an appointment as, in addition to leadership qualities, the person's priorities should focus, first and foremost, on the challenge the post offers and on job satisfaction. Pecuniary reward must not be the main attraction to the position.