The culture ministry is refusing to be drawn into whether Norma Saliba, the former PBS head of news who is contesting the role of Labour Party president, will be stepping down from her role at the helm of the Centre for Maltese Language if elected.
Replying to questions, a spokesperson for the culture ministry said that “the ministry does not comment on scenarios” and will only comment on Saliba’s role “after internal PL elections are over and the results made public”.
The spokesperson confirmed that Saliba is still a PBS employee – albeit seconded to the Centre the Maltese Language – saying that the well-documented facts about her employment “remain unchanged” since they were first reported.
PBS also declined to comment, saying that Saliba’s employment had been the subject of an investigation by the standards commissioner and that it “has no further comments to make”.
When asked whether she would be stepping down from the role once elected, Saliba told Times of Malta that she would wait for the election’s outcome and “take the necessary decisions at that point”.
Asked when she became a Labour Party member, Saliba simply said that she was “not a member of any party when I was PBS head of news”.
“I always respected the duties and responsibilities of my role throughout my time at PBS, both as a journalist and as head of news,” she said.
Saliba’s formal affiliation with the Labour Party’s administration would seemingly preclude her from holding a role at the public broadcaster, with PBS ethics guidelines saying that “all PBS (news) staff should refrain from publicly associating themselves with a political party”.
The guidelines also instruct employees to refrain from endorsing political parties, participating in any campaign, express support for a political party or cause, or act in any way that “that damages PBS’s reputation for strict neutrality in reporting on politics and government”.
Saliba will be pitted against lawyer and former Msida mayor Alex Sciberras, who announced that he would be running for the role of party president shortly after fellow lawyer Ramona Attard said that she would not be recontesting.
She has a long history at the public broadcaster, which she joined after a stint as a sports reporter at the Labour Party’s TV station ONE.
She was named PBS head of news and editor in 2020, eventually stepping down as editor in 2021 amidst an internal power struggle. She eventually resigned as head of news two years later, saying that she had been the victim of a “character assassination” campaign.
A month later, Saliba was controversially appointed to head the newly-formed Centre for Maltese Language in a move that spurred a row between the National Council of the Maltese Language and the culture ministry.