Government turning PBS into PN 'tool' - Sant

Opposition leader Alfred Sant this morning accused the government of turning Public Broadcasting Services into a tool to benefit the Nationalist Party.

Speaking at a press conference outside the offices of the Broadcasting Authority in Blata l-Bajda, Dr Sant said the government under the pretext of restructuring had run down PBS so that it could then turn it into a PN tool.

He criticised recent appointments at PBS, including that of news manager Natalino Fenech (formerly of The Times), saying his appointment had been made without a call for applications, which had been the norm in the past. Dr Sant said Dr Fenech’s compensation package would total €48,900 which was far higher than what PBS employees normally expected.

Furthermore, PBS had engaged journalists Keith Demicoli (formerly Net News)) and Sergio Mallia (former communications coordinator of Environment Minister George Pullicino). Their previous political connections made their position at PBS journalists untenable, he said.

Dr Sant said the deterioration at PBS was evident by the fact that three chairmen had resigned since 2003 – Austin Sammut, Michael Mallia and Andrew Agius-Muscat.

The PBS editorial board had also seen the resignation of Fr Joe Borg and John Camilleri.