An analysis on the state television station of how the Labour Party’s proposals would impact the deficit constituted “unfair treatment”, the broadcasting watchdog ruled yesterday.
Giving its verdict on a complaint by Labour over an episode of Bondiplus aired on November 1, the Broadcasting Authority found parts of the grievance unjustified but finally ruled against the programme, slamming parts of it as “unprofessional”.
The party was, however, not justified in its claim that opposition spokesman Charles Mangion was not given enough time to air his views, even though the show began without him.
The authority said Dr Mangion could have arrived on time and pointed out that the programme was extended by 20 minutes. It added that space allocated to each guest during such a programme did not have to be totally mathematically equal.
Labour had also complained about the programme’s audiovisual features, primarily because these did not focus on the theme of the programme: the Opposition Leader’s speech responding to the Budget.
However, the regulator agreed with the producers that they did not have enough time to prepare features about the speech which had just taken place that same evening. It added that the guests on the panel were given ample time to analyse the speech.
However, the authority said it had “reservations” over the main feature in which the presenter, Lou Bondì, tabled calculations of how several proposals made by Labour over the past few years would hit the country’s deficit.
“Although the authority believes a journalist has every right to criticise proposals of political parties, this must be done with a sense of fairness and professionalism,” the authority said, adding that in this case such requirements were not satisfied.
The majority of proposals Mr Bondì claimed were made by the .Labour Party were based on “misinterpretations” of what the party or its leader actually said, despite Mr Bondì’s claims otherwise.
“The authority feels it should not and cannot act as an arbiter to establish who is right,” it said. However, it could not understand how Mr Bondì “assumed and continued to insist” that Labour proposed to reduce the water and electricity tariffs to their original level, when he knew this was not the case.
The authority concluded that even Mr Bondì’s method of calculating how the measures would affect the deficit was incorrect and two economists on the next edition of Bondiplus pointed this out themselves.
TVM was ordered to reproduce a synthesis of its ruling during a news bulletin in the coming week.
Public Broadcasting Services said it was seeking legal advice and may challenge the ruling in court.
Meanwhile, Labour said action had to be taken to stop this “systematic and repetitive imbalance” on the national broadcaster against it.
On the other hand, the Nationalist Party said the ruling showed that Labour would not reduce the water and electricity tariffs after all, despite making people believe it would for two years.
The PN said it had formally complained about another Bondiplus edition on November 15, when Dr Mangion had “gate-crashed” in the last minute and was present throughout the whole programme unchallenged, creating political imbalance. The PN said it expected the Broadcasting Authority to challenge the programme itself, due to past judgments.
Meanwhile, Mr Bondi said he found the ruling “almost hilarious”, saying: “The authority accuses me of being unprofessional without substantiating its claim and yet remains silent about the Labour Party which magically turned €579 million of promises it made over the past three years into €54 million without saying which measures it would jettison.”