Saviour Balzan calls for probe after €88k public fund handout exposed
Reporter's weekly production costs do not exceed €800.
Saviour Balzan, presenter of the TV programme Reporter and editor of Malta Today, has demanded that PBS launches an inquiry after The Sunday Times revealed that his 10-minute daily programme received over €88,000 in one year from the government's Public Service Obligation (PSO) fund.
In a letter to PBS chairman Clare Thake Vassallo, Mr Balzan's lawyer, Toni Abela, said his client was "surprised" when he saw The Sunday Times report of June 28 and "cannot understand" how "confidential information" found its way into the newspaper.
Reporter, aired on PBS five days a week and produced by Mediatoday, which is co-owned by Mr Balzan, received 68 per cent of PBS's €130,000 PSO allocation for current affairs and discussion programmes from October 2007 to September 2008.
In a reply to a parliamentary question on July 3, Culture Minister Dolores Cristina - whose ministry decides which programmes should qualify for the contribution following a list submitted by PBS - revealed that Mr Balzan's programme received a further €88,540 from the PSO in 2008/2009.
The PSO fund, which totals €1.1 million, is provided by the government to ensure that programmes with a cultural, educational or social orientation are broadcast even though they do not necessarily justify their cost through advertising revenue.
Mediatoday has applied to air Reporter on next season's PBS television schedule. According to sources, the programmes for a given week are filmed together in one session and weekly production costs, described as "low level and studio-based", do not exceed €800.
Dr Abela also wrote in the letter: "Apart from breaching the Data Protection Act, which PBS normally cites whenever it is asked about payment to contractors and private production houses, the answer has always been that this information is of a commercial nature and should never be divulged. The contrary happened in this case."
The letter, which was copied to the Culture Ministry and the Data Protection Commissioner, said the way things had evolved did no good to PBS or the national station's clients.
However, when contacted yesterday, chairman Ms Thake Vassallo said that the information revealed by The Sunday Times was in the public interest and there was no breach of data protection.
Ms Thake Vassallo said: "It's not confidential information. The public should know where public funds go, it's no secret. We always show what we spend on each genre... it's been put on the table in Parliament a number of times.
When asked if there would be an investigation, she said: "The spend of public funds is public information, it's not confidential, so it's not a big issue."
Mediatoday's newspaper Malta Today, edited by Mr Balzan, was itself behind a story in November 2005 which quoted a confidential report to show the cost of Where's Everybody's flagship programmes - which are aired on PBS.
When Where's Everybody's directors wrote a letter to explain their side of the story, it was accompanied by an editor's note which read: "Malta Today's report is in the public interest and in accordance with true investigative journalism on everything... The origin of these funds are (sic) from taxpayers' money."
Other programmes which received significant sums from the PSO for the 2008/2009 season include Bijografiji produced by Where's Everybody, which got €91,234; Tini5 produced by Dee Media, which got €83,615; and D produced by Claire Agius, which got €81,524.
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David Attard
Jul 13th 2009, 13:47
This is amazing how cheeky can you be Balzan for once take it in as man!!!
Well said L Bonello seems the tables have turned round finally
Galea. L
Jul 12th 2009, 23:20
Joe Vella
The PN and its apologists are the greatest hypocrats as evidenced by your post because the people have a right to know how their taxes are being used.
r sammut
Jul 12th 2009, 18:22
Is this the same Saviour Balzan who prides himself as an investigative journalist, probing deep into others’ secret dealings?
Why things need to be different where he is concerned?
When concerning public funding everything should be above board. Why is this see-through transparency person taking offence then?
effie carbonaro
Jul 12th 2009, 17:34
@galea
yes you are right they should be made public.
MARK MIFSUD BONNICI
Jul 12th 2009, 16:40
Is Saviour Balzan stating that the public has no right to know how public money is distributed?
Can Dolores Cristina please explain how she reached the conclusion that Saviour Balzan's programme warranted 68 per cent of PBS's €130,000 PSO allocation? She is after all only a public official elected by the same public that expects a reply?
I fully agree with Claire Thake Vassallo's statement: "It's not confidential information. The public should know where public funds go, it's no secret!
So can Dolores Cristina please publicly state her reason for allocating 68% of these public funds to one particular person .Or are we to assume that remuneration for Saviour Balzan's programme "Reporter" is as he himself stated "confidential information".
For both Dolores's and the PBS chairman's information. Kaccaturi San Ubertu would like to publicly state that they are prepared to host a discussion programme and offer any form of remuneration for their services to charity.
The first person we would invite to such a programme would be Saviour Balzan. The subject "EU hunting advisers to the PN and it's rewards".
We await their reply in earnest.
Mark Mifsud Bonnici
Kaccaturi San Ubertu.
Galea. L
Jul 12th 2009, 15:28
WHY SHOULD SUCH INFORMATION BE CONFIDENTIAL WHEN IT IS OUR MONEY?
DON'T THEY THINK THAT WE HAVE A RIGHT TO KNOW HOW OUR MONEY IS SPENT?
OR DO WE NOT HAVE THE RIGHT TO KNOW WHO'S GETTING RICH FROM OUT TAXES?
S.Seychell
Jul 12th 2009, 13:52
I read articles simply to fill my time, and I find it quite annoying when one of Malta's newspapers is not able to do little corrects to its artciles like for example using the term "chairman" instead of "chairperson", especially when the person is actually a female!!
v.pulis
Jul 12th 2009, 12:38
I wonder how much Meander gets. It's practically the only programme which focuses solely on the art scene in Malta.
Joseph Schembri
Jul 12th 2009, 11:48
I agree with Sandro Pace and I ask again. How much does the excellent 'Dissett' by reno bugeja cost? It is not rubbish TV like some of the outside production houses churn out, but the set etc needs some attention... not that that matters to me.
Lawrence Bonello
Jul 12th 2009, 11:37
What utter cheek!!
Balzan claims to be the world-saving whistle-blower but only if HE is not involved? Then things become "confidential"!!!
What downright brazen cheek!!
Sandro Pace
Jul 12th 2009, 11:04
Now we are seeing where our money is wasted, and where cost cutting is required. We are taxed to the neck, choking the economy. Every euro counts. Interesting as these programs are, they are not worth that money.
When such programs were made in-house, such as by the then TVM newsroom, they were still interesting, more numoerous, perhaps less graphical ok, but TVM was still sustainable. How much the excellent Dissett by Reno Bugeja gets??
I think and speculate that such money's purpose is not just production and profit. But things may still go wrong and the recipient do not get the message, as probably in this case. So it goes exposed.