It’s the season, silly!

August is the time we wind down and switch off. Most of us yearn for slow lethargic days by the sea;  some for a good book or the luxury of an afternoon siesta; others for long nights outdoors in the company of good friends. Even the most avid news junkies may find they have skipped a couple of bulletini. Internet addicts may find they are miraculously cured from their habit. It is indeed the silly season.

While people’s attention is diverted elsewhere “tista toqtol u tidfen”. This season provides a perfect scenario to throw away bodies. Media Professor Ivor Gaber, identified many ‘below the line’ spin tactics which are used by political actors to divert public attention and minimize public reactions to controversial issues.

Among these tactics,they disseminate embarrassing news while journalists are distracted by other stories or while they are busy enjoying festive periods. Politicians know that during the ‘silly season’ most newsrooms resort to a skeleton staff. The bloodhounds are less inclined to bark and bite. This silly season successfully buried a story that involves our national broadcasting station PBS.

This week PBS was in a jubilant mood as it celebrated its high audience ratings. We heard on TVM news that its viewers exceed the Maltese second runner, One News,threefold. Its ability to reach a wide audience increases its responsibilities as it is one of the last remaining fora that brings people together in an otherwise fragmented and polarized media scenario. Il-Malti has an important function to enable us to make sense of the fragmented and contradictory information we receive from the other outlets. Moreover, PBS has obligations to address the information vacuum, which cannot be filled by stations that place politics or profit first

 Yet, one of the bodies that were thrown awayt his silly season was the awkward news that a former executive of  the Nationalist Party’s Net TV was chosen to head PBS.

The news that Mr Anton Attard had been anointed was originally leaked to the press in January 2010. By April, PBS was still denyingthat he had been chosen. It asserted that unethical unsubstantiated press reports were actually undermining the selection process. It was only this Sunday (22 August),a full eight months after the initial leak, that the official news was released on the 8.00pm TVM news bulletin.

Not only was it broadcast on a Sunday evening in the middle of the Santa Maria festivities, but it was also buried towards the end, even after the foreign news segment. The other media outlets missed it and to date, the website of the Department of Information made no formal announcement in spite of the media attention broached by this sensitive public appointment. As I write on Wednesday 25 L-Orizzont and even MaltaToday still did not make reference to a formal announcement.

Now I do not know Mr Attard and by no means do I wish my critique to be taken as a personal attack against him. My issue is not Mr Attard and his credentials but the way PBS appointments are generally made. The silly season should not distract us from the PROCESSES at hand as public broadcasting should be a concern for all of us.

What has just happened is a far cry from the hopes raised by the ‘restructuring’ of PBS six years ago. Then the “fresh start” entailed some very old arrangements as more power was conferred to the state. A cabinet minister still appoints both the Board of Directors and the Editorial Board. Decisions on the programmes we watch are made by the Editorial Board that is made up of three state appointees and three PBS Executives. Power is mainly in the hands of government appointees as formally the executives only have ex ufficio positions. Yet, the sagas of some of the appointments of  PBS executives in recent years strongly suggest political influence at that level too.

There are now new faces and some finer ‘below the line’ tactics but the processes that mar public broadcasting remain basically unchanged. Significant reforms are only possible if PBS is released from the clutches of direct state control so that it is able to achieve greater autonomy. Then it would increase its ratings and its credibility too.