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No wonder our public service broadcasting is in such a pitiful state. Well, to be more precise, I should have said “has been in such a state”.
After reading your article wherein you told us of your meeting with Minister Gatt (26 February 2006), I am more convinced than ever before, that government is failing the electorate in a very serious manner.
We now have it from the horses’ mouths that the separation of ministerial duties, where PBS is concerned, only served to give the two ministers a good excuse to appoint buddies as consultants and directors, and to drag one’s feet in the exercise of their duties.
In the period that Minister Zammit Dimech has been partly responsible for the country’s public broadcasting, he literally did nothing whatsoever to justify his partial responsibility in this regard, other than to hire Austin Gatt’s advisor on broadcasting, after Dr Gatt and his advisor crossed swords. It is said, that Zammit Dimech’s strategy in appointing Austin’s former mentor, was meant to show Austin who’s boss at Guardamangia.
His colleague’s, sort of stab-in-his-back must have certainly angered Austin Gatt, for all the energy and determination he portrayed immediately after he was assigned his share of responsibility in the local broadcasting station, seemed to have all vanished in thin air. Hadn’t this been the case, I am sure he would not have retaliated in such an irresponsible manner when you quizzed him on the failure of the restructuring exercise that befell PBS.
How is it possible that one permits this shabby governance go unchecked? Could any responsible person (from the PM downwards) please stand up and tell the tax paying public who was responsible for PBS’s further disarray? Who recommended the restructuring that PBS underwent? Where is the dialogue that government frequently boasts of? It surprises me how such situations do not seem to disrupt the sleep of those responsible.
Had I been Prime Minister, I would have taken exception to both ministers’ attitude on the matter. Also, I would have made a few heads roll for the string of showdowns government suffered, particularly in public broadcasting.
On hypocrisy Al Capone said, “when I sell liquor, it’s called bootlegging; when my patrons serve it on silver trays, it’s called hospitality.”
John G. Borg-Bartolo
Attard
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