The national television station last night said it would “immediately institute court proceedings” against the Broadcasting Authority for accusing TV presenter Lou Bondi of lack of impartiality.
The presenter should shoulder responsibility and ensure he does not enter arguments with his guests
In a statement, Public Broadcasting Services said it felt that the authority, as constituted, breached the Constitution and the principles of natural justice because the station had not been given a fair hearing in the cases instituted against it.
The issue arose over a programme of Bondiplus on January 10 which pitted the deputy leaders of the two main parties.
The Labour Party had filed a complaint with the BA, which upheld it noting Mr Bondi’s “wrong attitude and lack of impartiality towards the Labour Party’s representative”.
The presenter, it said, should shoulder responsibility for the way his programme was conducted “and must ensure that he does not enter into arguments with his guests”.
The BA, which heard from Labour and Mr Bondi before reaching its conclusions, also criticised the presenter for the clips shown, saying they all aimed to put Labour’s deputy in a difficult position and show only a part of the subject under discussion.
PBS hit back, saying some members of the authority were being systematically antagonistic towards the station. This had also happened during the hearing.
PBS noted that it had a pending court case over this issue and had presented documents showing that some members of the BA publicly expressed political bias as well as a bias against particular journalists.