Broadcasting Authority raps PBS for unbalanced coverage of Piccinino resignation

The Broadcasting Authority has once again reprimanded PBS for failing to adequately cover the Nationalist Party. 

The complaint came from PN general secretary Michael Piccinino, who argued that when he announced his intention to resign from his position in August, TVM failed to give him adequate coverage. 

Conversely, when former Labour president Ramona Attard stepped down, the station went into extensive coverage of her departure. 

Meanwhile, Piccinino said that when it came to coverage of him, TVM opted to simply report what had been reported in a Times of Malta story about him, and did not carry his comment, as it did with Attard. 

In a decision handed down on Friday, the BA board noted that while both reports were of similar content, they were broadcast in a different way despite their similarities. 

It felt that while TVM had carried Attard's comments about her resignation, it had not treated Piccinino similarly and only carried comments from Bernard Grech about his departure from the role. 

For these reasons, the board accepted the complaint and ordered PBS to broadcast the outcome of the decision within two days. 

In a statement, the PN said that the public broadcaster had censored its general secretary. 

"The PN will continue to take every necessary step until PBS stops being Super One 2 and becomes a truly public broadcaster," they said.