A member of the Broadcasting Authority yesterday criticised two of his colleagues, saying their hostile attitude would not allow the complaints board to “rise above political beliefs”.
Testifying in court, Alfred Mallia Milanes, who has been a member of the BA for the past 11 years, said legal procurator Rose Sciberras and lawyer Reno Borg always brought an aggressive and hostile attitude to meetings in which they had to decide on complaints.
He was testifying in a civil case instituted by the Public Broadcasting Service against the BA over two decisions by the authority, concerning political coverage, that went against PBS.
The public broadcaster argues the decisions should be nullified due to lack of impartiality. It claimed Ms Sciberras and Dr Borg were Facebook friends of Labour Party communications director Kurt Farrugia, Labour Party MP Gino Cauchi and also associated themselves with the Labour Party on the same social networking site.
This was not conducive to a fair and impartial hearing, the PBS said.
In yesterday’s sitting Mr Mallia Milanes said that when complaints were received about programmes, the concerned parties would present their case to the broadcasting board of which he formed part.
It was at these meetings that Ms Sciberras and Dr Borg would act as if they had already made up their minds about the issue at hand and made this very clear from the types of questions they asked and their body language. He said that it bothered him because the atmosphere at the meetings did not allow them to rise above their political beliefs. He added that there was hostility from their end.
“I’m not trying to throw mud or to cast a shadow of doubt on them, it’s not my style, but I’m under oath”, he said.
The case continues.
In a statement issued last night, Ms Sciberras and Dr Borg said they were considering taking legal action for slander against Mr Mallia Milanes. His testimony, they said, was untrue and did not reflect what actually took place at the authority.
They added that they considered Mr Mallia Milanes’ testimony as a direct attack on the BA at a sensitive time because of the electoral campaign.