Judges rule broadcasting ban on GWU 'out of proportion'

The Constitutional Court yesterday confirmed a judgment of the First Hall of the Civil Court which had concluded that the Broadcasting Authority violated the fundamental human rights of the General Workers' Union.

The union claimed that its fundamental human right to freedom of expression had been violated following a decision by the broadcasting watchdog banning it from advertising a notice on television.

The ban, the union argued, was not reasonably justified in a democratic society, and it asked the court to declare that the order was in violation of its fundamental human rights and to provide it with a remedy.

The authority pleaded that it had not violated the union's rights and that the prohibition was necessary.

The court heard that on August 17, 2000, the authority had declared that, in terms of the Third Schedule to the Broadcasting Act, advertising could not be of a political nature and that it was only the authority that could hold a scheme of political broadcasts.

The authority had found that the text of the advert faxed in by the union was political in nature and could not be aired.

The first court had noted that the advert referred to social justice and indicated that there were some persons who were living comfortably while others were carrying all the burden alone. The advert had a bearing on the workings of the government of the day.

The GWU, the first court ruled, was entitled to express its opinions even where these contained political elements. The union was therefore entitled to broadcast adverts and to provide information of its opinions without interference from a public authority.

The authority was therefore unjustified in prohibiting the advert in issue for there was nothing in it that was unacceptable in a democratic society.

The court therefore upheld the union's application and declared that the GWU's fundamental human right to freedom of expression had been violated.

The Constitutional Court, presided over by Chief Justice Vincent Degaetano, Mr Justice Joseph D. Camilleri and Mr Justice Joseph A. Filletti, confirmed the conclusions of the first court.

The ban imposed by the watchdog on the union was clearly unjustifiable in a democratic society, the court decided.

No evidence had been forthcoming to show that there was a pressing social need to exercise preventive censorship in this case, and the authority's prohibition was out of proportion in this particular case.