Member again walks out in protest

Broadcasting Authority member Joe Pace Asciak yesterday again walked out of a BA meeting in protest against its discussion on how journalists should conduct their work.

"I left the meeting when I felt that the way the discussion was progressing went against free journalism. I do not want to be associated in any way with any decisions that go against free journalism, so I walked out of the meeting," he said.

This was the second time in as many weeks that Dr Pace Asciak has walked out of a BA meeting in protest, the first being when the BA decided that Xarabank could not discuss the political parties' manifestos as Labour leader Alfred Sant was boycotting the programme.

The BA was yesterday discussing a complaint by the MLP about last Friday's edition of Xarabank. The MLP had written to the BA claiming it was "part of a campaign of character assassination" aimed at its leader.

In its letter, the MLP also complained about the latest editions of Bondì Plus, saying they tried to give the impression of being impartial when they were imbalanced.

Dr Pace Asciak said the BA had already planned to discuss Xarabank in its meeting on Saturday as it had placed the programme on its agenda before the programme was aired.

Dr Pace Asciak said that at the meeting on Saturday, he moved a motion saying that the fact that Xarabank was not aired as initially planned was "very grave, more so because it was not aired as planned because of a BA decision".

"The fact that the BA is discussing the programme that was aired is even more grave because a journalist had been censored and was now being condemned after he was censored.

"This is a serious threat to journalism in Malta. One should recall that the boycott by the MLP and its leader was not justified as Xarabank's presenter Peppi Azzopardi was never found guilty of any imbalance, neither by the courts nor by the Broadcasting Authority," Dr Pace Asciak's motion read.

He said the motion was not carried by four votes to one.

"At yesterday's meeting, I declared that I stood by that motion and, as it seemed the BA was inclined to give the MLP a right of reply, I disassociated myself from any such directive the BA might give in this respect and walked out of the meeting," Dr Pace Asciak said.

He said he also wanted "to show solidarity with journalists who were being attacked and humiliated by Alfred Sant".