Further leaps forward

Last wednesday, I presented to the media scientific findings about local viewers' and listeners' favourite television and radio programmes, and about what they think of those programmes, and what they would like to see more of. Laying down policies on broadcasting should reflect professional research to establish the facts as well as a process of sincere dialogue with programme producers.

Both processes have been set in motion by my ministry in anticipation of directives to be given to Public Broadcasting Services as to how to make best use of the allocation that Government is making available to ensure that in line with the national broadcasting policy, "PBS serves the general public as well as particular segments of the population by striving to be most creative, inclusive, professional and trusted broadcaster in Malta."

To carry out this responsibility, my ministry has engaged in a process of active consultation with the public as well as independent producers during a recent half-day seminar; with the Broadcasting Authority, PBS's own editorial board, the Commissioner for Children as well as others who have come forward with their own recommendations and submissions.

Commissioning an independent survey through Ernst and Young was another step forward in having the necessary information. I felt that we should not only have quantitative data but that we should also have qualitative data through various questions that were inserted in the survey as well as through organising focus groups that help us understand and appreciate better the people's aspirations, opinions and requirements when it comes to local productions.

The government allocation to PBS is meant to have better quality programmes that would not be aired if the one and only consideration had to be commercial.

As the survey has confirmed, TVM enjoys by far the largest viewership as well as the highest credibility for its news programmes. It is calculated that as many as 115,000 watch TVM every day, followed by Net TV and Super One which each have around 61,000 viewers. Moreover the national station ranks comfortably first with regard to its news bulletin that is rightly deemed as the most fair and objective.

One major issue that needs to be addressed is that when people were asked to indicate their favourite television stations by genre, all local stations fared very badly with regard to children's and sports programmes. More than 80 per cent of respondents felt that none of the local stations offered appropriate programmes for children. Only nine per cent indicated that they consider that TVM offers the best children's programmes and that percentage is the highest obtained by all stations!

This is one of the areas that will be addressed through the directives to be issued to the national station. There is room to provide for programmes that appeal to children of different ages since it is a mistake to try to bundle all children in one group. One is talking of children ranging from those who pre-schoolers to young adolescents.

There is moreover scope to ask for a dose of foreign children's programmes that are dubbed in Maltese. In this way, children will be able to follow professionally produced programmes for such stations as BBC, but do so in our own language.

The survey indicates that two out of every three persons would like to see some foreign programmes dubbed in Maltese. It would be technically very difficult and prohibitively expensive for us to try to do that with such genres as films where lip synchronisation is involved, but other programmes such as documentaries can be offered in Maltese more easily and that would be ensuring access to all segments of our population in favour of some quality productions that are aired by leading foreign stations.

My ardent hope is that Malta's own independent producers do not fail to notice the challenges as well as the opportunities presented by the survey published last Wednesday. I am encouraged by the fact that I regularly meet producers who are giving more attention to detail, innovation and creativity than ever before. They take pride in producing programmes that not only lead to more adverts and income, but also stand out for their filming, special effects, quality of script, style of presentation and serious handling of the topics that are addressed.

This is the way forward. It is the pride of doing it right, as opposed to giving in to mediocrity, to an 'anything goes' mentality characterised by a 'shoot first, ask questions later' approach.

The survey has established that it is not only PBS that are securing quality programmes as part of their schedule. Net TV and Super One, for instance, scored higher than TVM when it comes to Maltese drama, and when people were asked to mention two programmes of high quality, while TVM secured the highest scores with Xarabank and Tista' Tkun Int!, Net TV occupied third place with Santa Monika and Super One had a couple of its own programmes in the top ten.

That's how it should be. When the present government had completely liberalised the airwaves and introduced policies of farming out programmes, it was declared that over time Malta will have its own production houses and there would be more quality in our television programmes. This goal has been achieved and I can think of productions that would have never seen the light of day had it not been for this policy.

On the other hand, I do sense the birth of some programmes where commercialisation has had the upper hand at the cost of quality and good taste.

Ultimately we need to ensure the right balance. The programmes aired by the national station as part of its extended public service obligations must be seen as a crucial component of this balancing act.

Quality should never be interpreted as highbrow or as appealing to a very limited segment. If a quality programme is to be effective, it must also be able to communicate with the largest audience possible. I do not agree that certain subjects cannot be handled in a way that appeals to a wide audience.

Admittedly, the challenge could be tougher in some cases but a professional producer will always be capable of communicating his message provided that communicating skills are given as much importance as the knowledge on the subject that is handled. It's like teaching - a good teacher will know as much about how to impart knowledge and love for a subject as he or she would know about the actual subjects being lectured upon.

In the directives that will be issued to PBS, my ministry will be making percentage allocations for different programme genres. More than 20 per cent of our allocation will be channelled to children's programmes, while just under 20 per cent will be devoted to educational, cultural and general information programmes.  

In this respect, I would like to see more attention given to the wide array of cultural events taking place in our country. While there should be at least one cultural programme that provides, comprehensively, all the necessary information, it would also be appropriate if cultural news are merged within the news bulletins to ensure that more people are informed about what's happening in the cultural and arts scene in Malta.

That should lead to a higher participation rate in the wide cultural choices being made available to the public. The more we know about such events, the more we can appreciate them, choose some to attend and ameliorate our way of life.

Other programme genres that will be targeted and closely monitored include television drama, programmes dedicated to Gozo as well as Maltese communities living outside of our country, religious programmes, as well as professionally carried out discussion programmes and programmes dealing with current affairs.

The state of broadcasting in a country is one of the best indicators of that country's democracy, active participation by the people, as well as of cultural awareness and appreciation.

While Malta has a clean bill of health in this regard, it remains our mission to secure further leaps forward especially with regard to standards, quality, mix and overall good taste. By asking the people directly about their aspirations and feelings, we can make these leaps forward together and on a more secure basis.

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