Education Minister Louis Galea has alleged that PBS officials were in collusion with the Labour Party in the management of news, in a letter of protest sent yesterday to the station’s chairman Joe Fenech Conti.
Urging the chairman to investigate why a press conference he gave on Monday was not covered on the PBS news bulletins, the minister called on Fenech Conti to “take the necessary steps if it results that there was wrongdoing from some employee”.
Galea’s press conference was in reply to Labour’s proposal to increase a year in primary education, between kindergarten and Year 1, outlining what he said were the consequences of such a policy if the Opposition had to implement it.
Yet PBS “failed to give this information of public interest”, Galea charged, adding that he hoped that his “suspicion of collusion between PBS officials and the Labour Party in the management of reports of this nature” was unfounded.
The letter sparked controversy and rumours as to who Galea was referring to in his allegation.
A spokesman for the minister refused to name the “officials” referred to in the letter.
Last night, Fenech Conti limited himself to saying that he was not responsible for the stations’ editorial remit and that he was forwarding the minister’s letter to the editorial board, as he had done on a previous occasion with a Labour Party protest.
“I’m drafting a reply to the minister but the reality is that the editorial board has the responsibility to look into such questions,” Fenech Conti said.
According to PBS sources, Galea’s press conference was left out of the news bulletins on the grounds that Labour’s proposal was not even specifically covered in the first place, although MLP leader Alfred Sant did refer to it in his widely followed speech to the general conference last Sunday.
Meanwhile Labour Leader Alfred Sant reiterated his pledge to cut the surcharge on water and electricity by half, and eventually remove it altogether.
He was on TVM’s current affairs programme Dissett yesterday night, interviewed by Reno Bugeja.
Sant’s visit to Television House also triggered controversy as immediately after the filming, secretary general Jason Micallef took him unannounced on a visit to PBS offices and newsroom equipped with a One TV cameraman.
PBS employees said it was “not on” for Micallef to just “make himself at home as if it was his station” and take the MLP leader round the offices of his former work place.