Broadcasting Authority repudiation

Reference is made to the advert which appeared on page 21 of The Sunday Times of August 12 entitled "Broadcasting Authority Survey - April-June 2007". This advert was not issued by the Broadcasting Authority, even if one might get the impression that such was the case when reading it. In fact, this is a very misleading advert as it distorts the Broadcasting Authority's audience survey results for April to June 2007.

This advert seems to indicate that it was either compiled by the Broadcasting Authority or prepared by someone on the basis of information supplied by the Broadcasting Authority. Furthermore, there are several inaccuracies in this advert.

The Broadcasting Authority's Audience Assessment does not measure programme audience shares but broadcasting stations' viewing averaged over a period of three months. The Audience Assessment nowhere mentions any programme by name - instead it refers to half-hourly slots by station for all the weekdays under review.

The half-hourly slots are not intended to gauge programme audiences but broadcasting station viewing by consumers. The questions put to respondents refer to broadcasting station following by consumers and not programme consumption. Indeed, as can be seen from Table 1 and Figure 1 below, the Broadcasting Authority audience survey measures "TV weekday peak audiences" while Table 2 and Figure 2 provide data for total daily average audience for television stations.

The programme percentages listed in the advert are not correct because most of the programmes advertised have more than one half-hour slot, while the advertisers chose to discriminate among programmes. In some cases the percentage published in the advert is that of the first half-hour slot of the programme; in other cases the highest half-hour slot for the whole programme is published; while in another case the mid-point audience slot was published. In their exercise, the advertisers did not follow uniform and constant parameters.

The programmes listed in this advert do not fall under the same programme genre and, as such, it is very misleading to compare programmes without also considering the targeted audience for each programme, which may range from 12-year-olds to over-90s. Let alone such other factors as broadcast time, weekday and gender - all factors considered in the Audience Assessment done by the Broadcasting Authority.

The list of programmes given in the advert is also misleading. In the period April-June 2007, Arani Issa was last on air on April 9, L-Ispjun was last on air on May 16, Gizelle was last on air on May 22, and Dejjem Tieghek Becky was last on air on June 17.

Besides, while the percentages given in the advert for these programmes are taken from the averages of particular weekdays, the percentages taken for TVM News and One News are taken from the averages of the whole period April to June 2007. On the other hand, the last programme to be aired from those mentioned in the list of programmes in the advert was Tista' Tkun Int.

In addition, the bar-chart at the lower part of this advert has not been compiled, nor does it figure anywhere in the Audience Assessment April-June 2007 published by the Broadcasting Authority. The Audience Assessment did not and was never intended to make available any data on programme audience share.

The Authority does not accept responsibility for the data and chart provided in this advert and totally dissociates itself from the contents of this advert, which it considers to be untruthful, incorrect and entirely misleading. The Authority also considers the advert to be deceitful as it gives the impression that this advert was placed by the Broadcasting Authority and not by an anonymous person or entity.

The Authority's name and reputation were abused for unethical commercial interests. Nor was it stated that the advert was a paid advert, thus giving the impression that the page in question was faithfully reporting on the Broadcasting Authority's Audience Assessment for April-June 2007.

For the above reasons, it is therefore appropriate that readers are informed of the incorrect data published in The Sunday Times last week. The correct data and audience assessment report are available free of charge for viewing and downloading from the Broadcasting Authority's Website, www.ba-malta.org.

Dr Aquilina is chief executive of the Broadcasting Authority.