BA sound rebuke over PBS’s failure to report Sant’s Facebook comment on Panama Papers

Broadcasting Authority says PBS fell short of its duties when it failed to report Alfred Sant’s comments on Panama Papers posted on social media • Two other complaints by PN rejected

The Public Broadcasting Services (PBS) should have reported comments by former Labour prime minister Alfred Sant posted on Facebook, when he called on former energy minister Konrad Mizzi to resign in light of the Panama Papers revelations.

Mizzi, now a minister within the Office of the Prime Minister, had told Labour delegates that it was up to the Prime Minister to determine his future within the Cabinet and the party; at the time, Mizzi was deputy leader for party affairs.

“In his personal and political interest, in the interest of his family, of the Labour Party and the government and in the national interest, Mizzi’s honourable decision is to resign as soon as possible,” Sant had posted on the social media platform.

The comment by the former Labour leader was reported extensively by media organisations, but had not been picked up by PBS, prompting the Nationalist Party to file a complaint with the broadcasting watchdog. The PN had argued that, whilst it wasn’t complaining of imbalance, it questioned why PBS had chosen to ignore Sant’s comments, accusing it of bias in favour of the Office of the Prime Minister.

In its decision, the BA noted how the PBS newsroom had extensively covered the Panama Papers revelations but, that Sant’s comments should not have been ignored.

“The fact that Sant, a former prime minister, commented directly on Panama and a Cabinet member, merited a news item,” the BA said, noting that Sant’s comment remained newsworthy even if posted on Facebook.

On the other hand, the BA did not suggest any remedy for the complaint filed.

In two other decisions, the BA rejected complaints filed by the PN, one complaining that the OPM’s ‘Gvern li Jisma’ TV spots were political adverts and a second involving TVM’s reportage on PN MP Toni Bezzina and works carried out at the party’s club in Zurrieq.