Things at PBS are reaching a new all-time low and in my candid opinion viewers are witnessing unacceptable scenes on our supposedly state TV station.
The edition of Bondiplus of December 20, which on paper was meant to present an objective debate on the increase in the salaries of ministers and MPs, ended up proving to be, as usual, a sorry exercise of damage control in defence of the party in government.
Had this programme been aired on a political station like NET TV, I would not have felt the need to comment. But Bondiplus is being aired on the state TV station which has clear obligations under local and EU law to provide an objective service of information to viewers.
At one point the producers of Bondiplus stooped so low as to air a pre-recorded interview of a youth under the age of 18 who, while apparently and in my opinion glaringly motivated by purely partisan considerations, stated that last year, during an educational lecture on how Parliament works, I declared my agreement with the salary increase which of course I only got to know about on December 7, i.e. a year after the lecture.
The producers of Bondiplus did not feel the need to air a pre-recorded interview with me to ascertain equality of arms and a fair deal for the viewers.
Lou Bondi, the producer, might argue or even write in reply that he would have loved to allow a phone call of mine through during the same programme but that alas, time was unfortunately running out.
The issue here is that of granting equal treatment to different views before they are aired and not that of giving some sort of afterthought to the view which Mr Bondi wants to subliminally suppress. For the record I would like to declare that on this point I will be taking the matter further with the Broadcasting Authority, without prejudice to my other rights under the law.
Irrespective of the debate on whether the salary of MPs is adequate or not, I believe that at a time when families are being asked to make sacrifices and were only given an increase of €1.16 per week, the timing and the actual mode of increase in salary was insensitive and insulting to people at large. Since actions speak louder than words, I will be contributing the increase that I will be unexpectedly receiving to a charitable fund which will be presided by the highly regarded Mr Justice Philip Sciberras who has always commanded the respect of one and all for his integrity and sense of fairness.
It is high time that PBS becomes, in practice, the national TV station. For the sake of our democracy.