A member of the national broadcaster’s editorial board, which is tasked with ensuring the station’s impartiality, has publically endorsed a Labour MEP candidate.
The candidate and former L-Orizzont editor Josef Caruana this week unveiled a video endorsement by Charles Flores, in which the PBS editorial board member starts off by speaking about how impressed he was with Mr Caruana’s professionalism and determination when he used to edit L-Orizzont.
“I am convinced that in European politics, Josef Caruana will be offering and providing the same tenacity, determination, loyalty and professionalism,” Mr Flores says in the video clip.
In the 50-second clip uploaded on Mr Caruana’s Facebook page, the PBS editorial board member speaks about how he got to know the MEP candidate through L-Orizzont.
Mr Flores used to have a regular column in that same paper.
He has since switched to writing in The Malta Independent, frequently providing scathing commentary about politics.
Replying to questions by Times of Malta about the video endorsement, editorial board lawyer Joseph Refalo said that while the situation was not desirable, Mr Flores did not endorse or support a party, but spoke about the qualities of a candidate through his experience in journalism.
“Mr Flores’s experience and track record in office makes him perfectly capable of remaining impartial as required by law when he has to make decisions at editorial board level, on which former PN candidate Martin Fenech also sits, and chaired by Joe Sammut who has no political affiliations,” Dr Refalo said.
Martin Fenech is one of the legal aid lawyers defending Alfred Degiorgio, who is accused of carrying out the car bombing on journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia.
PBS has long been seen as a tool wielded by Nationalist and Labour governments alike to push their agendas and steer clear of controversial issues raised by the independent media.
A 2017 election monitoring mission by the OSCE had suggested revising the rules for the appointment of members of the broadcasting regulator and PBS management in a manner which enhances independence, so as to increase public trust and foster representation of wider political and societal interests.