Labour complains about PBS coverage in run-up to Budget

The Labour Party has called on the broadcasting watchdog to “intervene proactively” over what it called unbalanced coverage it was being given on the state TV station, PBS, in the run-up to the Budget.

“It is clear that whoever is leading the national station doesn’t have at heart the aim of a high-level national broadcasting but, instead, is part of a political strategy to advantage the Nationalist Party,” party communications officer Kurt Farrugia said in a letter to the Broadcasting Authority.

The station was being used as a propaganda machine and not as a medium of information to the extent that journalists were being sent abroad, to Spain and Greece, just to build a pro-government picture.

Mr Farrugia also included a letter of complaint he sent to PBS head of news Natalino Fenech about the news coverage on Saturday and Sunday.

The imbalance and contrast was clear during the news bulletin where prominence was given to the Finance Minister when interviewed by PBS together with live reports from Greece and Spain.

The minister was given all the opportunity to express political points which followed the government’s line in preparation for yesterday’s Budget speech.

The interview was more like a ministerial statement, he said.

In the letter, Mr Farrugia said Labour was given secondary coverage compared to the government – especially in features related to the Budget.

No comments were taken on camera from any of the speakers and the coverage left out a number of important issues raised by the speakers, Mr Farrugia said.

The only coverage the party had on Sunday was a report of Labour Leader’s speech which was balanced out and contrasted with a similar report of the Prime Minister’s.

Mr Farrugia asked PBS for an urgent remedy and for this behaviour to stop especially during the Budget debate and related affairs.

In a counter statement, Dr Fenechsaid that Mr Farrugia’s allegations were “baseless” and asked him to highlight points made by the Labour Leader that had not been mentioned before in other news bulletins.

He also said he was puzzled how the news could be biased by the presence of the Finance Minister in the studio.

The minister was asked questions people wanted answers to, such as its priorities and what was going to happen to the price of water and electricity, for example. The Budget was created by the government and asking the Finance Minister these questions did not amount to a failing.

Dr Fenech also said he could not understand how Labour objected to journalists reporting from abroad, when this is something that had happened before and would happen again.

In its reaction, the Nationalist Party said Labour’s attitude was not only another attempt to muzzle the liberty of the press and intimidate the Broadcasting Authority but shows how it was detached from what was going on internationally, particularly the bad times that Greece and Spain were going through.