Natalino Fenech’s PBS contract ensured he got three years’ pay if fired

A severance clause in former PBS head of news Natalino Fenech’s contract with the national broadcaster entitled him to three years’ pay were it to terminate his employment prematurely.

This was revealed during the libel case filed by Fenech against MaltaToday owner Saviour Balzan.

Fenech was aggrieved by a 120-word article published in MaltaToday.com.mt which claimed that Fenech had left his post at PBS and was seeking a role at the University.

On 8 May 2013, MaltaToday.com.mt published a story entitled ‘PBS spent 10 days without head of news’, in which it was reported that Fenech was no longer present in the PBS newsroom, pending his replacement by veteran PBS journalist Reno Bugeja.

This allegedly left the PBS’s newsroom without a head of news for 10 days. Reno Bugeja was appointed head of news at PBS on 13 May 2013.

Natalino Fenech felt the news item to be defamatory, claiming it alleged that he abandoned the newsroom and left the journalists leaderless.

Speaking from the witness stand this morning, Balzan said that the article was not alleging that Fenech’s employment had been terminated, adding that the wording was carefully chosen not to imply this. 

Had it been terminated, he said, Fenech would be entitled to almost three years’ pay. It was an exercise in deduction, he explained to the court.

“So if today Natalino Fenech is working at the University and has not been paid the termination penalty, I reach the conclusion that it was he who left his previous post. Therefore, this article was simply reporting and cannot be held to be defamatory.”

Balzan argued that the word “left” not “terminated” had been used intentionally. “I did not intend to cast a shadow, but to inform.” 

Fenech’s lawyer, Andrew Borg Cardona, argued that as the termination clause was not revealed in the article, his assertion was simply hearsay and repeatedly asked Balzan to reveal the source of the contract leak, but Balzan refused in order to protect his source.

Balzan also exhibited an affidavit by former President of Birdlife Malta, Joseph Mangion, in which he asserts that during the period spanning from December 2001 to October 2013, BirdLife statements would often be disregarded or given scant importance on PBS broadcasts.

“BirdLife would not even receive a mention on PBS news bulletins and its comments would not be sought on related news stories,” he said. Mangion said he believed that this media blackout was due to what he referred to as the “well known conflict between Fenech and BirdLife Malta.”

In a previous sitting, the court had also heard Balzan say that Fenech did everything to not invite or mention MaltaToday on the national broadcaster.

By way of example he had recalled how PBS had attacked a MaltaToday story on tuna quotas and failed to take a comment from a MaltaToday journalist.

In addition, he had said that during the 2013 election campaign, a PBS journalist had requested to interview MaltaToday online editor Matthew Vella on the election outcome following MaltaToday’s correct prediction of the outcome, only for Fenech to order the PBS journalist to cancel the interview.

The case will continue in June.