Watch: ONE News Obeys Broadcasting Authority Order To Report ADPD Press Conference On Hospital Contract
ONE News was ordered by the Broadcasting Authority to report a recent press conference by the political party ADPD about the Steward hospital contract.
ADPD reported the PL’s political TV station to the BA for not reporting on a press conference its leadership team had given outside court on 11th March.
During this press conference, ADPD insisted that all upcoming payments to Steward be deposited in court until the contract is terminated.
Although it is common practice for political party-owned media not to give a platform to rival parties, ADPD leader Carmel Cacopardo referred the BA to a landmark constitutional appeal ruling last February.
In this judgement, three judges ruled that a constitutional obligation for TV stations to provide “due impartiality” when reporting matters of political controversy doesn’t only apply to TVM, but to all TV stations, including those owned by political parties.
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ONE TV’s lawyer and PL president Ramona Attard counter-argued that the constitutional obligation of neutrality was introduced at a time when the national broadcaster was Malta’s only TV station.
She referred to a proviso in the 1991 Broadcasting Act which allows the BA to monitor impartiality among private TV stations “by looking at the general output of current affairs programmes across all licensees as a whole”.
However, the BA ruled in favour of ADPD, stating that while newsrooms should have editorial discretion to assess whether a press conference carries news value or not, it is hard to understand that ONE could see no news value in any of ADPD’s recent statements.
“ONE itself stated in its submissions that its most recent news item on ADPD was back in November 2022,” BA chairman Frank Farrugia wrote.
“Facts show that ONE systematically didn’t broadcast any of ADPD’s statements in recent months.”
“In light of Section 4 of Subsidiary Legislation 350.14, the BA welcomes this complaint because news bulletins should include accuracy and facts with news value. It is asking for ADPD’s statement to be reported in ONE’s bulletin on 30th March 2023.”
ONE subsequently reported ADPD’s statement on Thursday, although its presenter included a caveat that the government has since taken action against Steward which rendered a lot of what ADPD said as “irrelevant”.
In 2021, Lovin Malta and former CEO Chris Peregin filed a constitutional case challenging the constitutionality of a proviso in the Broadcasting Act which allows the regulator not to monitor political party-owned TV stations for impartiality.
This proviso allows the BA to monitor impartiality among private TV stations “by looking at the general output of current affairs programmes across all licensees as a whole”.
In practice, this has seen the BA continue to regulate TVM for political impartiality but not apply the same principles to ONE and NET.
A website, Kaxxaturi.com, has been set up to explain the details of the case and why Lovin Malta decided to open it in the first place.
The case is still ongoing.
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