The Nationalist Party has accused the Labour Government of controlling Malta’s public broadcasting and using TVM as what it described as an extension of the Government’s communications system.
In a statement, the PN highlighted figures emerging from a reply to Parliamentary Question 795, tabled by Nationalist MP Michael Piccinino.
According to the party, during the past year TVM news bulletins broadcast 532 Sound on Tape clips, known as SOTs, featuring the Prime Minister or other Government representatives. Over the same period, 66 SOT clips featured the Opposition Leader, Opposition members or Nationalist representatives.
The PN described the figures as an “absolute imbalance” and said TVM had been reduced to the Government’s “noticeboard”.
The party also referred to previous Broadcasting Authority interventions concerning balance in TVM news coverage. It criticised Minister Malcolm Paul Agius Galea’s defence of PBS during a parliamentary sitting.
“This is not journalism. This is not information. This is not public service,” the PN said, adding: “This is propaganda paid for by taxpayers.”
The statement, issued by Shadow Minister Justin Schembri, called for PBS to be freed from what the party described as the Government’s “political grip” and for fair space to be given to the Opposition and civil society.
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