The national station has been in the eye of political controversy ever since its formation in the mid-1970s. Charlot Zahra catches up with chairperson Dr Claire Thake-Vassallo to find out what changes are in the pipeline
In 2004, Public Broadcasting Services underwent a controversial restructuring plan, reducing the total number of employees from 178 to 64 – a third of the original workforce – while production of television and radio programmes was farmed out to external producers. Only the news and sports bulletins on TVM and Radio Malta remained in the hands of PBS; and of the 14 journalists previously employed in the PBS newsroom, only three have remained – Ruth Amaira and Peter Cossai as news co-ordinators, and Reno Bugeja as a journalist. Another employee, Tony Dimech, who worked as a video editor, was hired as a journalist after the restructuring.
One could argue that after two decades of lavish spending, the government had decided to drastically reduce costs and concentrate only on the bottom-line... inevitably incurring criticism for having sacrificed quality programming in the process.
It was against this backdrop that Dr Claire Thake-Vassallo – a PBS board member since 2000 – was appointed to replace Joe Fenech Conti at the head of the board, in part of a sweeping reform conducted by education Minister Dolores Cristina upon taking over the broadcasting portfolio in 2008.
Thake-Vassallo however plays down the general implications of her own appointment: i.e., that by choosing a senior university lecturer at the Faculty of Arts who specialises in communications theory, government appeared to be moving away from its previous “bottom line only” attitude, towards a re-injection of culture and quality programming.
“PBS is still concerned with the bottom line of the company,” she says when asked about the apparent change in direction.
“The challenges facing PBS today are very similar to those being faced by its European counterparts, namely to fulfil its public remit while keeping its commercial viability. In the meantime we are doing our best to improve the quality of our programmes with the resources we have available...”
Apart from overcoming staff shortages on account of the 2004 restructuring, PBS must now brace itself for an imminent technological revolution. How is the national broadcaster getting ready, both technically and financially, to face the switch to digital transmission by the end of 2010?
“PBS is represented on the Digital Switch Over Steering Committee set up by the government to implement the digital switchover process according to the DSO Policy,” Vassallo-Thake explains. “We are working together with the other parties concerned to meet the switch-over deadline and to make the transition process as smooth as possible.”
Given the station’s public function, finance is inevitably an issue. This is a bone of contention in virtually all countries where there is a State broadcaster: one typical example is the BBC’s domestic service in Britain, which is financed by television licence-fees, in order to ensure that its editorial independence remains at an arm’s length from both State and private financing.
The model at PBS is somewhat different. Malta’s State broadcaster enjoys an annual Lm500,000 Public Service Obligation grant, and also benefits from advertising revenue.
But is the PSO grant still enough to finance the ever-increasing programming costs?
“It is only logical that five years after its restructure, PBS, like any other company, should be up for review, particularly in view of the fact of the ever increasing cost of programme production. Television is after all a very expensive medium.”
In your view, should PBS start getting again part of or the entire sum paid in licence fees by TV viewers? If so, why?
“TV licences fees could provide additional funds which PBS needs to produce programmes of quality, while fulfilling its obligation to the public. Public Service Broadcasters in Europe are all funded by a combination of TV licences and commercial funds.
The principle of the TV licence is for the public to have ownership of the station. However these decisions are not for PBS to take.
Either way, the adoption of the new EU legislative framework in Malta by the end of this year will surely affect PBS in all these spheres...
“Yes, it will affect PBS in such a way that will bring local broadcasting more in line with European practices. As a Public Broadcaster, PBS has obligations to the public which purely commercial stations don’t have. These include high quality programmes for children, which protect the child from commercial or other sorts of manipulation. They include high quality and objective news. We have an obligation to produce or drama, current affairs, cultural programmes and events. It is a tall order, and one which we continue to strive towards...”
Apart from this, Dr Thake-Vassallo also points out that PBS is a member of the European Broadcasting Union, also known as Eurovision.
“As long as PBS remains a member of this organisation of 54 member countries, Malta will be eligible to participate in such events as the Eurovision Song Contest, the Junior Song Contest and perhaps the
Eurovision Dance Contest. In addition we are also well placed to attract Broadcasting related conferences and meetings, and in fact, in October 2009, PBS will be both partner and host broadcaster to the News Xchange Meeting, an annual world conference for journalists from all TV news companies.”
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Only the news and sports bulletins on TVM and Radio Malta remained in the hands of PBS; and of the 14 journalists previously employed in the PBS newsroom, only three have remained – Ruth Amaira and Peter Cossai as news co-ordinators, and Reno Bugeja as a journalist. Another employee, Tony Dimech, who worked as a video editor, was hired as a journalist after the restructuring.
