TV personalities Lou Bondì and Peppi Azzopardi are being accused by the Labour Party of flagrantly breaching broadcasting laws, following a series of revelations which cast doubts on their impartiality.
The Labour Party is not only playing away but is playing against an adversary
However, Public Broadcasting Services has denounced Labour’s “harsh orchestrated campaign” against Mr Bondì and Mr Azzopardi as having ulterior motives.
The two men, who run the production company Where’s Everybody?, are permanent fixtures on TVM where they present popular programmes Bondi+ and Xarabank.
Quoting subsidiary legislation (350.14) from the Broadcasting Act, Labour MP Gino Cauchi, a former PBS journalist, yesterday told a press conference that journalists and presenters at PBS were meant to be impartial and could not declare their voting intentions or give their opinions publicly on political or controversial matters. He referred to a series of incidents where he accused Mr Bondì and Mr Azzopardi of acting in “flagrant” breach of such regulations.
One such incident occurred only yesterday when Mr Azzopardi confirmed having coached Nationalist MP Jeffrey Pullicino Orlando before his appearance at a crucial and controversial TV debate days before the 2008 election. Mr Azzopardi’s admission, through a phone-in on a morning TV programme, came after Dr Pullicino Orlando testified on the matter in court during a libel case on Monday.
Referring to Xarabank programmes in the run-up to the election, Mr Cauchi said the revelation showed the PL was “not only playing away but playing against an adversary who was being coached by the referee”.
Mr Bondì recently launched his own blog, spending the summer writing about various political issues. According to Mr Cauchi he used his blog to “attack” the PL, its leader and other officials. Recently, Mr Bondì also said in an interview that he planned to vote for the Nationalist Party at the next election.
Mr Cauchi, who sent a letter to PBS two weeks ago about the matter but never got a reply, said Mr Bondì had the right to say what he wanted to but not to break broadcasting laws as he was doing in his position.
Mr Cauchi told The Times the law was not enforceable by the Broadcasting Authority and PBS should therefore regulate itself. But the PL was convinced the law would continue to be breached because PBS was headed by a former PN strategist, Anton Attard.
Asked whether Labour regretted appointing Mr Azzopardi to help draw up ethics guidelines for its journalists, Mr Cauchi said it did not because the whole initiative was intended to include those journalists who were usually highly critical of the party, like Mr Azzopardi.
Mr Cauchi added that, unlike in the past, when the PL boycotted Where’s Everybody? programmes, the present administration had no intention of silencing itself by not participating in such programmes, as was their right.
However, he said the BA should take a stand and ask PBS to fall in line with the law. He did not rule out taking legal action if this did not happen.
Mr Cauchi called on Mr Azzopardi to say whether he also coached other officials before the election, including Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi, while having chaired debates between Dr Gonzi and rival Alfred Sant days before the election.
In a statement, PBS dismissed Mr Cauchi’s claims which, it said, were motivated not by the need for balance but the need for audiences.
PBS claimed that because it attracted better quality productions, competing TV stations were losing audiences and advertising revenue. “PBS believes this is the real reason why there is such a harsh orchestrated campaign against TVM.”
PBS pointed out that Mr Azzopardi held seminars for One News journalists and that when Mr Bondì declared himself in favour of divorce, Labour said nothing because his position was congruent with the party’s.
Subsidiary legislation quoted by Mr Cauchi was not enforceable by the BA. “Yet, TVM enforces it when there is some kind of election in the country,” PBS added.
Mr Azzopardi and Mr Bondì refused to answer questions from The Times yesterday and instead referred to the PBS statement.