The Broadcasting Authority has decided to commit itself to a course in which, despite its blindness, it will see itself go into a grave; a grave of its own making; a grave that is a fitting place for an organisation that does not have the will to live the life breathed into it by, and only by, the Constitution.

That the authority reneges on its duty to the public is reprehensible enough. But that it does so at such a crucial time, when it is supposed to be the bastion of fairness and objectivity in the midst of heavy political crossfire, renders it a tragic liability unworthy of its name.

Its conduct in recent weeks has been plagued by a litany of errors that has now reached intolerable proportions. What are the reasons for this and, equally pertinent, what are the motivations behind it? A cursory look at the recent chronology may shed some light.

In February, the authority insisted on viewing in advance special episodes of Xarabank on EU membership so that it could ensure the programmes were "balanced and impartial". After rightly being branded as unacceptable "censorship", the authority backed down. But the common sense that prevailed then proved a false dawn.

The Labour Party since presented a memorandum to the authority's board saying it should shoulder responsibility for the imbalance in state broadcasting. It said current affairs programmes should be produced by the PBS newsroom and objected to programmes produced by Where's Everybody, which includes Xarabank.

Now we have this dangerous decision to ban the broadcast of two editions of Xarabank on the party manifestos, which, in spite of protests by PBS, the authority is refusing to reverse. Moreover, the authority ordered PBS in most draconian fashion to read out, on the main news no less, its letter that, to some extent, echoed the MLP's sentiments by saying that the national television station did not appear to have "the will or ability to organise debates involving the three political parties in an environment that is acceptable to all parties". Yet, only one party is objecting.

That is the party that organises press conferences without allowing journalists to put all the questions they have, including those which may cause discomfort. This is the party that is being allowed to veto television programmes.

The authority's attempt to convince us that it has not given in to pressure is not at all convincing. Labour cannot be allowed to dictate matters in this way. Its refusal to take part should not, as the authority's own guidelines lay down, "automatically imply the cancellation of that programme". Xarabank's producers should only be brought to book if their programme misrepresents the absent Labour Party's views.

What we are left with is a ridiculous situation where the authority has lost the confidence of the people it governs and does not govern the people (political party stations) that the public cannot have confidence in to provide them with impartial information.

What we need is an authority built on guidelines that apply to all the broadcasting media in Malta. What we need is a state television station that is not shackled by the whims of the political parties.

Those responsible for bringing about this predicament have not heeded our call to step down. But this will not stop us continuing to demand it. They must resign.