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Karl Schembri
Pledging to act fairly and to put an end to the controversy as soon as possible, Eddie Fenech Adami’s former personal secretary and former PN administrative secretary John Camilleri says the Labour Party is being “unfair” in criticising his new appointment as chairman of the PBS editorial board.
“The MLP is being unfair in my regard,” Camilleri said when contacted. “I want this controversy to end as soon as possible. I regard it as an incident along the way but it’s not the end of the world.”
The successor of Fr Joe Borg, just appointed on the board that has been headless for a whole year, found himself in the line of fire from the Labour Party just on the day of his appointment, with Investments Minister Austin Gatt dismissing criticism by pitting another member on the editorial board into the controversy – Dominic Fenech – who was secretary general of the Labour Party between 1980 and 1983.
“My crime seems to be that of having been Eddie Fenech Adami’s secretary,” Camilleri said. “Nobody is accusing me of being incompetent, of committing an illegality or of being corrupt. But having been Fenech Adami’s secretary is a crime for Labour. We’re three on the board, and one of us was a Labour Party secretary general. They’re adopting two weights and two measures.”
Camilleri was also appointed to the PBS board of directors a couple of months ago but he resigned last week upon his appointment of the editorial board. This however means that when he gets to writing the annual editorial board report in a month’s time, he will be reviewing the same programme schedule that he approved as director.
The two boards have been at loggerheads since before Fr Borg’s resignation, with the former editorial board chairman accusing the board of directors of looking only at the bottom line and abandoning the PBS public service broadcasting mission ethos.
“We have to strike a balance to keep broadcasting creative, inclusive and worthy of the people’s trust,” Camilleri said.
Camilleri said his allegiance remains to the Constitution and to the national broadcasting policy, adding that he will “mediate” between the two boards to strike a balance between the financial dictates imposed in the restructuring process and the public service mission of the PBS stations. He added however that the battle between the bottom line and the requirements of public broadcasting “will remain forever”.
Asked about his opinion on Fr Borg’s damning editorial board report last year, in which the chairman had warned that PBS was nearing “its worst possible death”, Camilleri said he would not like to go into it at the moment as he was still “on a learning curve”. He said however that he wished to see a strengthened PBS newsroom.
Last January, MaltaToday revealed that former Broadcasting Authority chairman Joe Pirotta had turned down Austin Gatt’s offer to head the editorial board.
“I have too much on my plate,” Pirotta had said.
He insisted his negative answer had nothing to do with the disastrous restructuring process at the national broadcasting company.
“I would have considered the offer if I didn’t have the amount of work I have,” he said.
kschembri@mediatoday.com.mt
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