Church radio suspends journalist for ‘serious breach of obligations’

Church radio journalist Sabrina Agius was suspended yesterday after the contents of e-mails she exchanged with Labour leader Joseph Muscat were published.

RTK radio instituted disciplinary proceedings against Ms Agius, who had served as acting head of news until March but stepped down only to apply for head of news following an internal call. When she was turned down, she took the matter to court claiming political discrimination.

Sources said Ms Agius was yesterday asked to leave the office as internal proceedings against her commenced on charges of seriously breaching her obligations to the company.

This happened the day after Dr Muscat claimed in Parliament that correspondence via e-mail between him and Ms Agius had been hacked. He demanded an investigation by Speaker, Michael Frendo, protesting an “erosion of democracy”.

Dr Muscat raised the matter after, earlier in the day, a Net News journalist asked him about the correspondence.

Attempts to contact Dr Frendo proved futile and both Ms Agius and the Labour Party were unavailable for comment.

The government has denied hacking and pointed out that the e-mails were on Ms Agius’s gmail account and Dr Muscat’s josephmuscat.com account, not gov.mt. The state IT agency, Mita, categorically excluded that Dr Muscat’s gov.mt address had been hacked.

The IT Ministry deemed the allegations made by Dr Muscat very serious and called on him to collaborate in investigations.

Specifically, the ministry urged Dr Muscat to publish his allegations on irregularities at Mita, which, the Labour leader said in Parliament, had been discussed between himself and Ms Agius.

The ministry said it was determined to take all the necessary steps to ensure the highest level of security in the government’s IT system.

The correspondence shows Dr Muscat telling Ms Agius that the party “needs” her in the position she occupied at RTK, though he also expressed the wish that she joins The Times or national broadcaster PBS.

When she told him she was considering resigning, Dr Muscat urged her to stick to her job.

He also asked Ms Agius to draft parliamentary questions for him and invited her to be a Labour candidate.

Ms Agius gave him information related to the Church, proposed ideas for the PL and discussed her prospects as a candidate.

At the height of the divorce referendum campaign, Ms Agius told Dr Muscat: “Perhaps you’ve heard that Kevin Papawhatever (Papagiorcopulo, the Curia’s communications officer) is the public relations officer of the No movement (to divorce)... Perhaps you could pass on the information that this movement is obviously financed by the Church and that Kevin is also a director of the newsroom... In my opinion, there’s a massive conflict of interest.”

Dr Muscat’s response was to ask whether the PL revealing such information would cause problems for Ms Agius, to which she replied she did not mind.

After complaining to him about her position at RTK, Dr Muscat asked her to draft some parliamentary questions for him. She replied that he would have them within a couple of days and to let her know if he wanted anything else from her. “However,” she added, “if I were you I would not come out with the information now... but hold it to use as a concealed weapon during the election.”

In the course of this exchange, which took place last April, Dr Muscat said: “How I wish you’d join The Times”. She replied that she had applied (for a journalist vacancy) and been informed by The Times she would be called for an interview. Dr Muscat said: “Let’s hope for the best.”

Though the newspaper was at the time unaware of this exchange, she was not selected.

Ms Agius also offered constructive criticism to Dr Muscat, in particular on how the Labour-owned television station One would benefit from being more objective and making use of journalists who were not overtly partisan. This prompted an exchange on whether she should be a candidate at the next election. “Perhaps one day I will be with you in Cabinet,” she said. “That would be good,” Dr Muscat replied.

She continued: “However, before all else I have to gain your trust and show loyalty... I must prove myself as an individual. There are certain things which I can still start working on now. Thanks for your faith in me”

After some deliberation they came to the conclusion that she should not contest the next election but the one after with Dr Muscat reflecting: “We need you as head of news at the moment.” Ms Agius then told him: “If you need me here use me in the best possible way. This can be by means of tip-offs for stories.”Last month, Ms Agius told Dr Muscat that she had seen a vacancy at PBS for a journalist/editor and asked if she should apply. When he advised her to do so, she queried whether during the interview she should state that she had also applied for a job at One TV. Dr Muscat said: “Tell them you’ve applied at a number of places.”

Media Link head of news, Nathaniel Attard justified publication of the e-mail exchange, after Dr Muscat spoke in Parliament, on the basis of their public interest. Media Link attached to its statement the e-mail exchanges in their entirety.