PN says TVM has become ‘Super One 2’

The Nationalist Party accused Labour of reducing TVM to “yet another propaganda tool” for the government, condemning what it described as the “shameful state” of Malta’s media landscape.

In a statement issued on Thursday, the PN said public broadcasting is supposed to serve the people. Instead, it claimed, TVM has become an extension of the government’s communications machine.

The party insisted that PBS must be freed from the government’s political grip and restored as the broadcaster of the people, rather than of the Cabinet.

According to the PN, Prime Minister Robert Abela’s government has failed to strengthen media freedom and has instead continued to entrench a culture in which independent media is muzzled and public information is kept hidden.

The party said this is reflected in Malta’s international standing, noting that the country has continued to fall behind in media freedom reports.

“Instead of informing, it selects. Instead of balancing, it conceals. Instead of giving the full picture, it paints only one reality: the one that suits the PL,” the statement read.

The PN also pointed to the Broadcasting Authority’s intervention over what it described as TVM’s unbalanced treatment of the government and the opposition in news bulletins, particularly through the use of Sound on Tape clips.

In response to a parliamentary question tabled by PN MP Michael Piccinino, it emerged that over the past year TVM broadcast 532 Sound on Tape clips featuring the prime minister and other government representatives.

By contrast, during the same period, TVM broadcast only 66 Sound on Tape clips featuring the PN leader, opposition MPs, or party representatives.

According to the PN, this imbalance shows that TVM has been “entirely manipulated” by the government and reduced to “nothing more” than its own noticeboard.

The party described this as a serious abuse of state institutions and public funds, as well as an insult to taxpayers who fund what is supposed to be an impartial public broadcaster. Instead, the PN said, the public is being given "Super One 2."

“This is not journalism. This is not information. This is not public service,” the PN said. “This is propaganda paid for by taxpayers.”

The PN concluded by pledging to continue using every tool at its disposal to defend media freedom, the public’s right to be fully informed, and the need for institutions that serve Maltese citizens rather than the Labour government.