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Despite the Labour Party’s “formal objection” lodged with the Broadcasting Authority to the appointment of John Camilleri as PBS editorial board chairman, the BA does not have the power to remove him as the appointment rests with Investments Minister Austin Gatt.
Last Thursday, a delegation made of MLP secretary general Jason Micallef, MP Helena Dalli and party PRO Mark Farrugia met with the authority’s chairman, Joseph Scicluna and chief executive Kevin Aquilina to step up the MLP’s protests against the controversial appointment of the former personal secretary of Eddie Fenech Adami.
But according to Aquilina, the BA is not in a position to revoke the appointment as it was never responsible for it in the first place.
“We are responsible for the content broadcast on PBS,” Aquilina told MaltaToday shortly after the meeting. “It’s the minister who is responsible for Camilleri’s appointment. The authority intervenes on questions of content if the Constitution or the broadcasting laws are breached.”
Aquilina said the Labour Party’s objection was meant to sensitise the authority about the “possible repercussions” of Camilleri’s appointment.
The minister has dismissed the Labour Party’s objections, defending his decision by mentioning another member on the editorial board who was MLP Secretary General in the 80s, Dominic Fenech. But the MLP insisted with the BA that “it is very bad for public broadcasting that Camilleri is put in charge of the PBS editorial board, particularly when the country is heading towards a general election”.
According to Camilleri, who succeeds Fr Joe Borg after a whole year in which the chairmanship was left vacant, Labour’s objections are “an incident along the way”.
“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.”
kschembri@mediatoday.com.mt
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