TV charity show producers rebut sensationalism charge

The organisers of the fund-raising TV show l-Istrina have strongly denied they tried to sensationalise the issue of persons with disability to rake in more money.

Presenter Peppi Azzopardi said the producers of the charity extravaganza were very careful to ensure the clips screened during the programme portrayed a realistic picture of the situation which such people lived in.

Saturday's event, which raised over Lm1 million for charity, was sprinkled with clips featuring the plight of disabled or sick persons and their families.

On Monday, Joe Camilleri, president of the National Commission for Persons with Disability, complained that the impression was given that donations would enable persons with disability to live normally through some equipment or medical intervention.

It was the second time that Mr Camilleri had taken exception to the l-Istrina clips. Two years ago he described them as "highly insulting" and a "calculated assault on people's emotions".

But contacted yesterday, Mr Azzopardi said the organisers - Where's Everybody? - were "ultra-careful" when compiling the clips, so much so that certain shots, showing the disabled in a more pitiful state, had actually been omitted.

The organisers never said that the money raised would enable the disabled children featured in the clips to walk, he added. "What we said was that with the help of a walker they could be more mobile. So much so that the theme of the programme was to give 'a better life'," Mr Azzopardi said.

One child by the name of Christine was even shown in one of the clips saying she was resigned to spending the rest of her life in a wheelchair but that she wanted to improve her conditions, he explained.

With more money, all these wishes could be realistic targets.

As featured in the programme, one of the disabled girls managed to get a job as a telephone operator with Eden Foundation, Mr Azzopardi pointed out.

Nevertheless, Mr Azzopardi has no bone to pick with Mr Camilleri, saying the national commission had actually been instrumental in making sure all ethics were maintained.