Culture Minister Owen Bonnici. Photo: Jason BorgCulture Minister Owen Bonnici has distanced himself from Jason Micallef’s latest Facebook rant directed towards the national broadcaster’s CEO.
Mr Micallef is chairman of V-18, an entity trusted with preparing Valletta as capital of culture in 2018, which reports to the Culture Ministry.
But Dr Bonnici stopped short of saying whether the Facebook comments were appropriate for somebody who occupied a national role like Mr Micallef.
“Jason Micallef was commenting in his own personal capacity and certainly not reflecting the government’s or ministry’s views,” Dr Bonnici said when asked about the incident.
On the social networking site, Mr Micallef expressed hope that the “unilateral” decision by Public Broadcasting Services CEO Anton Attard to move the Eurosong festival to November was “not vitiated by scandalous decisions”.
While intimating scandal, Mr Micallef did not elaborate and wrote that if he got hold of the facts, he would be at the forefront of those saying that the November festival was “vitiated and null”.
He is certainly not reflecting the government’s or ministry’s views
PBS said the festival was rescheduled to give the station enough time to prepare for Malta’s participation in the Eurovision song contest in May.
The winning song in Malta may not be the same one eventually sung at the Eurovision although the winning singer and song team will be retained.
But the public broadcaster also explained that shifting the festival to November would ensure better use of resources since a week before PBS will play host to the Junior Eurovision Song Contest, which will be held at the Marsa shipbuilding site.
Mr Micallef, who is also chairman of One TV, the Labour Party station, is openly critical of the government’s decision to retain Mr Attard as CEO despite having formerly been part of the Nationalist Party’s inner circle.
ksansone@timesofmalta.com