PBS runs item on unsourced , pro-Busuttil ‘survey’

The Public Broadcasting Services' newsroom departed from its declared policy not to publicise newspaper surveys, when TVM news on Sunday ran an item on an unsourced survey that appeared in The Malta Independent on Sunday.

An interview with the Independent's managing editor Stephen Calleja on an unsourced survey claiming higher public support for Nationalist  MEP Simon Busuttil for the deputy leadership of the PN, was given prominence yesterday evening in the 8pm bulletin.

Traditionally, PBS refuses to publicise or refer to surveys in newspapers such as those of MaltaToday, which correctly predicted the outcome of the 2008 general election.

MaltaToday has already reported that the Simon Busuttil camp was encouraging media houses to organize and publish surveys to prove that Busuttil had greater public support than finance minister Tonio Fenech.

The two men are facing each other off in a contest for the deputy leadership of the PN, whose election will be decided by the PN's 851 councillors.

Fenech enjoys wide support from chief cabinet ministers and veteran councillors.

The unsourced survey published in the Malta Independent on Sunday does not reveal who carried out the survey, or the methodology used.

Campaigners close to Tonio Fenech who spoke to this newspaper yesterday questioned the authenticity of the survey. "Our perception is obviously that PBS has taken an obvious leaning towards Simon Busuttil's candidature."

The same source said that on two occasions, PBS journalist Reno Bugeja and TVAM presenter Pierre Portelli referred to MaltaToday's revelations of 2010 that led to the resignation of Fenech's private secretary Nicholas Borg Hedley, who was later charged with taking bribes from the JPM Brothers construction firm in return for administrative favours. The Montebello brothers were embroiled in a controversial renovation of Fenech's residence, ostensibly as a favour to broker the sale of a Marsaskala hotel, which never took place.

"We didn't expect PBS to use the Borg Hedley incident in the interviews. It was slightly under-handed," the source said.