The Broadcasting Authority this morning ruled on three complaints about PBS filed by the Nationalist Party, finding that the complaint was justified in one case while dismissing the other two. 

The authority found that PBS was wrong to not air news that former Prime Minister Alfred Sant had called on Konrad Mizzi to resign in the wake of the Panama Papers scandal.

It noted that Dr Sant's comments merited reporting, given that he was a former prime minister and that the Panama Papers scandal was in the national interest.

The fact that Dr Sant had posted the comments on Facebook did not detract from their news value, the authority found. 

In a Facebook post published last April, Dr Sant had called on Dr Mizzi to "take the honourable decision" and resign. 

The PN welcomed the authority's decision and said it showed that PBS' agenda was set by the Prime Minister's office in Castille. 

The Broadcasting Authority also ruled on two other complaints filed by the PN, although it found that both these were unjustified. 

One case related to a PBS news report about PN MP Toni Bezzina on June 20. Mr Bezzina had just lost two libel cases against newspapers which reported that he had used workers from the public works department to carry out repairs of Zurrieq's PN club. 

Toni Bezzina.

The PN alleged that PBS had censored the PN's comments while reporting the Labour Party's in detail. 

But the Broadcasting Authority found that the news item in question had clearly covered all perspectives, adding that impartiality was not a matter of ensuring opposing perspectives received the exact same time allotment. 

The authority also found that a PN complaint about a series of government adverts aired on TVM with a 'Gvern Li Jisma' theme was unjustified. Such adverts had been running for the past three years and the authority considered them informative adverts, rather than political ones, it said.