Journalists' representatives united yesterday to condemn Go's decision to bar its news portal di-ve.com from covering political activities.

"As a result of new corporate policy," a notice posted on the site for some time said, "di-ve.com will not, for the foreseeable future, cover political activities and statements as part of its day-to-day operations."

The company has refused to make any further comments on the matter.

In a joint press conference held outside the telecoms group's headquarters in Marsa yesterday, the chairmen of the Journalists Committee and the Institute of Maltese Journalists (IGM) criticised the move, saying offering updates on developments taking place on the political scene in the run-up to a general election was the least they would expect a telecoms company the size of Go could do for its customers.

"We hope you realise your company's decision is a disservice to your own customers, to the Maltese public in general and to political parties that need journalists to disseminate and analyse their programmes before our country is called to vote," a joint statement said, adding that the decision humiliates journalists working in the di-ve.com newsroom.

Besides the unacceptable interference from the company's board in editorial decisions that should remain di-ve.com's sole responsibility, the journalists' representatives said the decision runs against the very corporate social responsibility the company claims to espouse.

"We hope this mistaken decision is not the result of any political interference and we call on you to withdraw it with immediate effect and show again the trust and editorial freedom that the di-ve.com news team has enjoyed so far," the statement insisted. "We also appeal to the Dubai mother company, Tecom Investments, to realise this is a European country in which the free press is an essential part of our democracy. We hope the new owners of di-ve.com realise this to the full, having decided to operate in a democratic country where politics is discussed, covered and criticised openly as is the case in the rest of the democratic world."

The website, which was the first such news portal on the island, had said it had about two million hits from 45,000 visitors last Monday when the election date was announced, which makes the decision more commercially inexplicable.