The editor of the Sunday newspaper Illum has been “heavily censured” by the Press Ethics Commission, which found her guilty of the character assassination of former PBS chairman Joseph Mizzi.

The commission also found editor Julia Farrugia had acted unethically since she published damaging information and footage about Mr Mizzi without verifying the facts.

Mr Mizzi had filed a case against Ms Farrugia before the Commission over an article published in Illum on May 22. The article, entitled Iċ-Chairman tal-PBS Patata (PBS chairman was drunk), was accompanied by a series of photos showing him in a bad state following an after-party organised by the European Broadcasting Union in Düsseldorf at the Eurovision Song Contest.

The newspaper’s news portal, maltatoday.com.mt, also uploaded footage showing Mr Mizzi falling to the ground and lying flat on his back following the reception in what looked like an apparent state of drunkenness. This led to Mr Mizzi’s resignation just 14 months into his appointment as chairman of Public Broadcasting Services, the state broadcaster.

Mr Mizzi insisted with the Commission that he did not drink excessively that evening when he took two glasses of wine and four shots of Jagermeister. Witnesses present at the after-party, which took place in the early hours on May 15, said Mr Mizzi looked very tired that evening and some even teased him when he ordered a Coca Cola during the open-bar party. He testified that he had left his Coke unattended when he approached the Azerbaijan delegation at the party at about 4 a.m. This was confirmed by another witness. Mr Mizzi said he had no recollection of what happened to him between 4 a.m. and the following morning. The commission noted that although Mr Mizzi was a public figure, and it was the responsibility of the media to expose any bad behaviour, in this case Ms Farrugia had failed to verify the complete story and presented a misleading picture of what may have happened.

While it was not the role of the commission to determine what actually happened, it noted that Mr Mizzi had told Illum, when contacted before publication, that he had a stomach bug and had not exceeded his drinking limit.

However, the story published was centred around the unconfirmed angle that he was drunk. Ms Farrugia had asked Mr Mizzi if his position as chairman was tenable but did not show him the footage she was referring to. It had been established that the footage was taken by two different cameras by Maltese people, since foul Maltese language could be heard in the background of the unedited version. Ms Farrugia had forwarded the clips to Education Minister Dolores Cristina for a reaction and this showed that the newspaper wanted to put pressure on Mr Mizzi to resign, the commission said.

It added that Ms Farrugia wanted to produce a sensational story and the aim of the story’s publication, including captions and photos, was to attack the reputation of Mr Mizzi as PBS chairman. As a result, he suffered serious consequences. Mr Mizzi has also filed a criminal complaint asking Police Commissioner John Rizzo to investigate the incident. Investigations are still ongoing.