It’s almost nine in the morning and as I wait in Super One’s reception area to interview Michael Vella Haber – a dentist turned broadcasting director with a fervour for change. Vella Haber walks me to his office and the interview only gets going after I finally meet his “tiger”, a kitten which shares its den with One Productions’ managing director, one year on since taking up residence. No newcomer to the Malta Labour Party, Vella Haber was Prime Minister Alfred Sant’s consultant on Gozo between 1996 and 1998. 
A dentist by profession Vella Haber makes no secret of his working class background and is proud of his upbringing and professional achievements, attributing them to his parents’ tenacity to give their children an education.
How does he describe his mission as a broadcaster? “That a political party is the company’s main shareholder does not diminish our responsibilities as broadcasters. Our mission goes beyond the company’s shareholders. Our primary role is threefold; we have to educate, inform and entertain. These are the station’s terms of reference and the purpose for which it was instituted.
“This does not exclude that we serve as a platform for our main shareholder to deliver its message but God forbid that be our only purpose. If we were to push only the party’s agenda we would be forcing ourselves into a corner… true, our radio station remains focused on grassroots but television is a different story.”
You insist that Super One television is ‘a purely commercial station’ while it is well known that huge amounts of money are required for the running of a TV station. What is Super One’s financial position? Is it making losses? If not, where is the money coming from? Are you using fund-raising programmes to fund the stations?
“Our last couple of years have been quite positive but I cannot say that a Maltese broadcaster’s financial situation is an easy situation – it is not and the reasons are many. The market is small, the competitors are increasing and the situation is steadily becoming the more difficult but this does not mean that a TV or radio station does not make financial sense.”
Vella Haber talks about “the major restructuring programme” which was started in May 2005 at One Productions.
“Our policy was to update our technology, achieve greater cost effectiveness and not lay off any of the employees. We looked into our working practices and redeployed people according to the new needs of the stations as dictated by the new technology which is being installed. The results achieved so far are very encouraging as also have been the last financial reports.”
Financially Super One may be performing well according to Vella Haber, but to what extent does Super One’s well being depend on its audience’s loyalty to the Labour party?
“Every station enjoys some sense of loyalty, even that which does not have a political party as its major shareholder… if it does not have that sense of loyalty then there’s something wrong. Fund raising activities which directly benefit a specific sector or department of the station (the Outside Broadcasting Unit for example) is a thing of the past… At present our main revenue comes from advertising and, like all the other stations on the island including public broadcasting, we have introduced the SMS system whereby we manage a minimal income. These SMS contributions from our viewers are more significant on our level of morale because they show that the people out there care for their stations.”
Vella Haber had stated that Super One radio was being kept open to the grassroots while the TV would be more balanced, targeting different sectors of the population who are not being given enough coverage.
“All those who belong to a minority including the present Labour party is not being given enough space to deliver its message. My aim is to try develop a suitable platform from where these minorities can voice their ideas but this is not easy especially when you are trying to be commercially viable.
“I think this is the responsibility of public broadcasting which has been abdicated completely. Public broadcasting has become commercial to extremes, it has abdicated from its social role and in a way we are trying to fill that void but as a commercial station it is much harder for us. Public broadcasting is supported by the taxes people pay, we aren’t. However, I feel that broadcasters have the duty to present everyone’s voice, especially minorities.”
I ask for examples and Vella Haber talks about Super One’s efforts to promote local upcoming talent and culture in general. “With programmes like ‘Min-Nicca l-Barra’ we are providing both a marathon coverage of local festas as well as documenting this cultural event for posterity…”
What do you understand by a ‘more balanced’ way of doing television?
“At present major changes at the station are underway both on a technical as well as on the philosophical level. The newsroom, which I believe is the flagship of every station be it politically affiliated or not, is being more factual and we are leaving much more room for the public to draw its own conclusions and judgements. Accusations that we are biased in our reporting are false – truth like anything else is subjective and everyone has his own version of the facts; at the end of the day perception boils down to the evaluation of reality according to everyone’s social situation.”
He talks at length about subjectivism, pluralism and the journalists’ duty to report correctly – “facts are facts,” he says. But the next elections are round the corner and there are no foreign issues (the EU for example) to be dealt with, so it seems like the battle will be fought on local issues. Which issues will determine these forthcoming elections?
“I agree that this is the first after three elections which will be fought entirely according to the present local situation… or so it seems at least… I believe that the biting issues will be the availability of work, cost of living and the difficulty young people are finding to settle down particularly because of the cost of property.”
The party newsrooms reach towards extreme polarisation during the run-up to the elections. Is this not in contradiction with the principles of balanced broadcasting?
“If you are asking for objectivity you should have objectivity across the board. You remain objective according to the social framework within which you have to work. You cannot ask for objectivity if you yourself as an entity are not being objective.”
In the context of political parties owning TV stations, are journalists working with the respective stations doing journalistic work or are they party functionaries?
“There is no one at Super One who is employed with the MLP. Yes the main shareholder is the MLP but One Productions has an independent board of directors and the management is completely autonomous… the journalists in the newsroom are employed by the station, not the party.”
What role should the broadcasting authority have in the media context?
“The biggest problem in Maltese media is fragmentation. We have the broadcasting authority, the communications authority and other such authorities which causes overlapping and difficulties in implementing ideas. The broadcasting authority’s duty is to scrutinise all broadcasting but I can’t see what results it is achieving… The two political stations balance each other well. I am more worried by an entity which presents itself as an independent entity but tries to transmit a hidden agenda. This is the true danger because objectivity should be the order of the day particularly in public broadcasting.”
Is it not ironic that representatives from the two parties constitute the Broadcasting Authority?
“You cannot think of it like that. Every public entity in Malta has political appointees. In the case of the said authority the situation is fairly balanced but there are entities where only one party is represented… at the end of the day I believe that it all rests on the individual’s sense of integrity.”
Michael Vella Haber was talking to Gilbert Calleja
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