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Karl Schembri
A decision taken by the PBS editorial board to interrupt Tista’ Tkun Int last Thursday so that the 11 o’ clock news could be broadcast on time was overruled by the station’s management, in the umpteenth incident exposing the extent of internal conflicts at the national broadcasting station.
The editorial board’s decision was meant to rectify a consistent delay of the 11pm bulletin. But a contradictory order issued by the management at the eleventh hour last Thursday meant that the programme kept running, with the news being broadcast later than scheduled as a result.
The editorial board is said to be up in arms against the management, with its chairman John Camilleri remonstrating with PBS Chairman Joe Fenech Conti over an episode which has once again pitted the editorial body against the board of directors.
Camilleri declined to comment when contacted, saying that questions should be put to Chief Executive Albert Debono, who is believed to have issued the conflicting order. But Debono was similarly circumspect: “I have nothing to say about this,” he said.
When contacted, Tista’ Tkun Int presenter Rachel Vella only said: “We are just sticking to the contract signed with the board of directors, as we always do and as encouraged by the board of directors”.
Even News Manager Sylvana Cristina opted to ignore a message sent to her by email.
Editorial Board member Dominic Fenech said: “I confirm that we discussed and decided unanimously that the 11 o’ clock news on Thursday had to go strictly on time, come what may. It is unacceptable that the bulletin keeps going late and we gave very clear instructions to the management that this has to stop. Yet the decision was overruled by the management at the eleventh hour and the bulletin still went out late. This is totally unacceptable and can’t go on.”
To complicate matters further, Tista’ Tkun Int’s contract is said to stipulate that the programme should start at 8.35pm, something which PBS cannot possibly honour given the time taken up by the weather report, sports and financial update after the 8pm news, adding ammunition to Vella’s case for extending her programme beyond 11pm.
Sources at the national broadcasting station say PBS is so heavily dependent on selling air time to make ends meet, that the board of directors ends up making impossible concessions, at times even in conflict with its public service mission, for lucrative contracts signed with production companies such as Rachel Vella’s.
And Vella has other cards up her sleeve: on Sundays, the 11pm news is broadcast at 11.20pm on account of another programme; the Chief Executive does not even believe the 11 o’ clock news should be broadcast live; and the editorial board has no clout when it comes to enforcing its decisions.
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