Bondiplus has been found guilty of breaching journalistic ethics and creating an imbalance to the detriment of the Labour Party by the Broadcasting Authority, the Labour Party said.

The party sad it complained with the authority about the December 20 programme which dealt with the issue of a double pay and honorarium for MPs. The party had complained that the interviews and features broadcast created an imbalance and that incorrect and untrue allegations had been made.

The authority said that no reaction had been requested from Labour MPs about whom PN whip David Agius made allegations during an interview in the programme. The authority said that as the interview was recorded, the producer had enough time to get a reaction from the people mentioned, but felt he did not need to.

Journalistic ethics, the authority said, required a producer to do his utmost to get such a reaction for spectators to get a balanced and comprehensive report.

The fact that the people contacted did not reply to an e-mail which had been sent by the did not justify the station's behaviour.

The BA said the producer also failed to get a reaction from Labour MP Owen Bonnici, about whom allegations were made by 17-year-old Damien Cassar in an interview. However, in this case the authroity said that the imbalance was rectified because MP Bonnici had been given the right to a reply according to law in another edition.