Slamming the PBS board of directors and their procedure to select the winter TVM schedule, the chairman of the editorial board, John Camilleri, quit from the national station in his most damning statements made ever since he was appointed by Investments Minister Austin Gatt last October.
In his fiery resignation letter sent last Friday and accepted by Gatt yesterday, Camilleri said he was quitting “in protest against the programme selection process for the TVM winter schedule” after a tumultuous process that saw PBS Chairman Joe Fenech Conti overruling the editorial board’s shortlist of programmes.
Camilleri reiterated that the process as adopted by the board of directors “was neither fair, nor transparent or credible”, insisting that the board went against the same rules it had set out in the Public Statement of Intent.
In fact, the statement says that “all proposals will be evaluated by the editorial board from the perspective of content. The evaluation will be presented to the board of directors which will, in conjunction with the editorial board, take the final decision about which programmes will form part of the schedule.”
“This didn’t happen,” Camilleri added.
“Together with my colleagues on the board we did our best to act correctly but the board of directors chose to ignore what they were supposed to be committed to towards the government, the producers and public opinion. In my opinion the board of directors’ behaviour constitutes an abuse of power. … That’s why I am presenting my resignation in protest against the majority of the present board of directors that have brought national public broadcasting into this miserable state.”
In his reply to Camilleri’s letter, the minister defended the board of directors, claiming they had the right to have the final say on the programmes included in the final schedule.
“The editorial board has a consultative role and no amount of nitpicking on the PBS documents can lead to any other interpretation,” Gatt wrote. “These parameters were crystal clear for everyone from day one. … It is unfortunate that the editorial board decided to ignore this rule from the start by expecting that it had the final say on the schedule or that it has to be agreed with it. This is incorrect and I have no qualms saying that it is not in line with the government’s policy.”
Yet Camilleri hit back at Gatt when contacted yesterday night, saying the minister was going against his own policy.
“If Austin Gatt can read English, so can I,” Camilleri said. “He’s saying I wanted the last say, but that’s not what I wanted. I am offended and insulted by his letter. I could only stay on that board for as long as procedures were adhered to and followed correctly not in this climate of abuses and lack of transparency. If Gatt is against the very regulations that he came up with then he should change them.”
Last April, Camilleri jolted the station when he unexpectedly announced the programmes that were short-listed for next October, confirming that Where’s Everybody mainstay Bondiplus and l-Ispjun were not selected.
But less than a week later, the PBS chairman Joe Fenech Conti overruled the decision and informed all producers to send their demo tapes anyway even if they were not selected by the editorial board.
Camilleri, a former private secretary to PM Eddie Fenech Adami was still widely considered as a political heavyweight and was immediately criticised upon his appointment by the opposition.
But far from appeasing the government, Camilleri exposed the board directors’ manoeuvring that had already come under criticism by former editorial board chairman Fr Joe Borg in his annual report issued upon his resignation.
Meanwhile board member Dominic Fenech yesterday said he was not following Camilleri.
“If there’s anyone who should resign it’s Fenech Conti,” he said.
“The board of directors is behaving as if there is no editorial board. An integral part of the national broadcasting policy is being totally ignored. If the minister wants to back a board that is challenging the very policy set by himself, then he should change the policy.
“It seems that there are some who are sorry to have created the editorial board, but for as long as I’m on it, it will not serve as a smokescreen, as the public will remain informed about what’s happening there. And I won’t resign unless the minister resigns or there is a change of government.”
Backing Camilleri’s decision, the other voting member also appointed by Gatt, Mary Ann Lauri, also said she would not be resigning “yet”, adding that she did not even have the official schedule as decided by the directors.
“When I was appointed three years ago, it was on the understanding that the editorial board was responsible for programmes from an editorial point of view, and that’s how Dominic and Fr Joe Borg understood it too,” she said.
Camilleri had sent the first shockwaves when he upheld a complaint by former minister John Dalli, who argued that presenter Lou Bondì could not host a programme about him given Where’s Everybody’s links to Joe Zahra, who was found guilty of fabricating a report about John Dalli. The dispute dragged on for days, with Bondì claiming he had been censored by the editorial board.
The latest decision by the PBS board of directors to scrap the editorial board’s short list and reopen the applications process from scratch, has effectively quashed any notion of the editorial board’s autonomy, and is widely perceived as a measure to simply reinstate the programmes omitted by Camilleri.
The conflict once again exposes the schizophrenic broadcasting policy which set up two boards appointed by the same minister – Gatt – although editorial policy remains under Culture Minister Francis Zammit Dimech, who never took a stand about the war between the two boards.

kschembri@mediatoday.com.mt