TV presenters stand by their role as ‘communicators’
Karl Stagno-Navarra
The two TV personalities who are fronting an Enemalta advertising campaign to curry favour with the public for the Delimara power station extension have not read the Auditor General’s report into the award of the controversial €200 million contract to Danish firm BWSC.
Presenters Clare Agius and Pablo Micallef have turned out to be the only two personalities Enemalta managed to convince to support the campaign, which is currently being aired at prime time on all TV stations.
After four other TV personalities refused to promote the Delimara extension, reportedly over the potentially harmful environmental effects of the technology that will run on heavy fuel oil, it transpires that Agius and Micallef are standing by their roles as ‘communicators’ of their client’s – Enemalta – message.
They also said they were unaware of the concerns raised since June 2009 of the 30 tonnes of toxic waste that Delimara’s new extension will produce every day, not to mention the irregularities mentioned in the Auditor General’s investigation.
At least four other TV personalities turned down a financially generous invitation by Enemalta to be part of the campaign, that oddly compares the emission levels of the 60-year-old Marsa plant with those of the new Delimara plant.
The campaign will cost €34,000. Production company 26th Frame was chosen following an expression of interest issued by Enemalta back in January 2008. According to a PQ, the production cost is set at €8,500, from which the two personalities will also be paid.
MaltaToday contacted Clare Agius to ask her whether she had read the 221-page report by the National Audit Office, which found irregularities in the contract process.
“At the time of recording the report had not been published,” Agius said. “I was just paid to do the job.”
Agius was also asked what her opinion was on two central tenets of the Auditor’s investigation: the creation of 30 tonnes of toxic waste every day from the BWSC technology; and the irregularities in the way the contract was awarded.
Agius said she had “no information” on these aspects of the Delimara plant at the time the advert was recorded – even if these issues were already widely discussed in the media since June 2009.
MaltaToday then contacted Deal Or No Deal presenter Pablo Micallef, who admitted he had not read the report but asked this newspaper to email him questions, so that “[he] could look into the matter better.”
15 minutes later, Micallef replied to MaltaToday: “I am not entering into the merit of the technicalities that are subject to interpretation. My job is to convey a message as the client, Enemalta, wanted. It is clear that in my message there is no contestation, since it has been broadcast on all TV stations, irrespective of their views on this project,” Micallef said, referring to the Labour party’s channel One TV.
He then added: “Every progress creates some inconvenience. I trust this will be minimised or eliminated and I believe that technical personnel are able to find a solution in the best interest of the Maltese.”
An hour later, Clare Agius – this time having conferred with Micallef – emailed MaltaToday, claiming the newspaper had “targeted the wrong people”.
Referring to the issue of toxic waste, Agius reiterated that this was “unknown information” at the time of recording. She said her role was that of “communicating a message to the audience… my concerns would be like that of any other Maltese citizen, including yourself, however what you are interpreting is again subject to your personal opinion.”
While debate rages over the substance of the Auditor General’s report and whether the suspicion of corruption should be criminally investigated, four other TV personalities had already turned down the offer to be the face of Enemalta before the publication of the report.
Journalist Miriam Dalli and popular presenters John Bundy, Alfred Zammit and Joseph Chetcuti all refused an offer put to them through production company 26th Frame, which was engaged by Enemalta.
With the technology proposed by BWSC, the Delimara extension will run on heavy fuel oil and produce some 14,000 tonnes of toxic sludge a year, to be exported at a significant cost.
All these four presenters conduct programmes on the Labour party-owned One TV, the same party that asked the Auditor General to investigate alleged irregularities into the Delimara adjudication process.
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