The Office of the President takes exception to the report entitled ‘MCCFF non-committal on funds for pro-abortion group’ (June 6).

In its response to the questions by the Times of Malta, the Office of the President explained very clearly that the MCCFF awards funding only in relation to specific projects and that all such projects are considered on their merits. There is nothing non-committal about such a statement. On the contrary, it is definitive and, furthermore, this particular project had been completed.

Nor did the Office of the President “decline to comment” when asked whether the women’s group referred to in the article would still be eligible for funding. The newspaper was told there was “nothing to add” to the original response, which had already covered the relevant points.

While the journalist [who wrote the article] makes clear in opinions expressed through his social media posts he is wholeheartedly opposed to pro-abortion groups and that the President is “not fit for purpose”, it is unbecoming of a newspaper like the Times of Malta to allow such stated bias to affect the newspaper’s reportage, which one would expect to be fair, balanced and objective.

Editor’s note: The Times of Malta has always declared it is against abortion, even if it gives space to those having other views. For the record, the “not fit for purpose” comment was completely extraneous to the subject matter of the article referred to above.