Court Upholds PN Request For Urgent Hearing Of ‘Broadcasting Impartiality’ Case

The Nationalist Party has welcomed the Court’s decision to grant its request for an urgent hearing in regards to the constitutional case against Public Broadcasting Services (PBS) and the Broadcasting Authority regarding impartiality in broadcasting.

‘This case seeks to restore the right of the public to free broadcasting and to ensure that justice is done’, the PN said.

The party filed constitutional proceedings on Tuesday, alleging systematic imbalance in TVM News coverage in favour of the government as well as failure to enforce rules on impartiality.

The case was filed in court by PN Secretary General Charles Bonello, Shadow Minister responsible for Broadcasting Justin Schembri, and the lawyers representing Partit Nazzjonalista, PN MP and lawyer Michael Piccinino, and lawyers David Bonello and Thomas De Martino.

They explained that PBS news coverage features a very significant imbalance in sound-on-tape clips – comments recorded on camera.

‘The latest figures provided by the Government itself in response to a Parliamentary Question by PN MP Michael Piccinino revealed that, between June 2025 and May 2026, there were 532 sound-on-tape clips featuring members of the Government, compared with just 66 featuring the Opposition – one Opposition clip for every eight Government clips. Similar imbalances occurred in at least three previous years, with the Broadcasting Authority issuing rulings to this effect on three occasions but never enforcing them.’

‘The case also addresses the obvious lack of impartiality among presenters of news and current affairs programmes. It cites TVM presenter Ricky Caruana as an example, noting that he is known to receive payment for advertising for a number of ministers and Government entities that are subsequently represented on his own programmes. He regularly uses his social media to actively promote members of the Government and Labour Party activities, and has even expressed how he intends to vote.’

‘Since the Broadcasting Authority has failed to fulfil its obligation to safeguard balanced public broadcasting that allows viewers to form their own opinions freely and without indoctrination, the Partit Nazzjonalista had no alternative but to file this case to reclaim what is rightfully owed to it and to all the people of Malta and Gozo – free and impartial broadcasting’, they said.

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