The Malta Broadcasting Authority has just published its annual report for the year 2007. The document is as important for what it says as it is for what it does not say.

One of the most sad affirmations of the report of the constitutionally set up regulator is that not all is well in the state of public service broadcasting in Malta. From the report it transpires that TVM, for the second year running, has been awarded the most dubious award of being the station that breaks the law more often than any other TV station.

Last year, the Broadcasting Authority found TVM guilty of breaking the law on 25 different occasions: almost every other week. This is just slightly less (four fewer cases) than the infringements by One TV and Net TV put together. The same deplorable situation prevailed during 2006. TVM was found guilty of breaking the law on 29 different occasions! This state of affairs is condemnable and totally unacceptable. It would not be amiss for the national public service broadcaster to explain why it has been reduced to this sorry state of affairs.

The regulator did not mince its words about the editorial situation that characterised PBS during 2007. It recalls that the chairman of the editorial board had resigned in protest and adds that "the advice of the other members of the editorial board was, on several occasions, not accepted by the management of the company, even when this referred to purely editorial issues, and, at least on one occasion, a decision by the former registered editor of the station to grant a right of reply to an aggrieved party in terms of the Press Act was overruled by management". The authority says that such a situation is not acceptable to it. It should be unacceptable to anybody, especially all those who have public service broadcasting at heart.

There is a silver lining. Following the last general election, PBS has been included in the remit of just one ministry, that responsible for education and culture. Minister Dolores Cristina has constituted the editorial board and has promised a review of the National Broadcasting Policy. One hopes that all this will bear fruit.

But there are issues which, unfortunately, the report of the Broadcasting Authority does not address.

The report is mum about the sorry state of affairs resulting from the presence of political stations. These stations do not communicate. They indoctrinate instead. Their news bulletins are an exercise in propaganda not journalism. One would have expected the authority to address this issue and describe the situation as not acceptable. It could be that the authority did not tackle this issue because of the way it is constituted.

The board of the authority is set up in line with the interests of the two main political parties. On many occasions the onus to guard the interests of John Citizen rests mainly (not to say only) on the chairman. This is the root of all that is wrong with the system.

The Times has addressed this grave problem and blemish on the broadcasting scene on more than one occasion. The review of the National Broadcasting Policy, which the minister has referred to on a number of occasions, should include a review of the make-up of the Broadcasting Authority. The citizens of this fair land deserve nothing less.