Valletta (The Brussels Morning Newspaper) – The Nationalist MEP Peter Agius has urged for a transparent, public selection procedure to pick the next CEO of the Public Broadcasting Services.
MEP Peter Agius expressed the EU’s Media Freedom Act now mandates that roles within public broadcasters must be filled via a transparent and public selection process. PBS executive chairman Mark Sammut will quit his post without a successor yet being selected. Sammut, once a close confidant to ex-Nationalist minister and European Commission John Dalli, had clashed with ex-PBS head of news Norma Saliba, who left her post. PBS is still without an official editor who runs the newsroom.Â
Public Broadcasting Services Limited (PBS) is Malta’s public service media provider which runs 3 television HD channels, three radio stations, and a website portal covering news, current affairs, culture, education, entertainment, and sports. Under Sammut, the station presented two new stations TVMNews+ and TVMsports, but the television channels persist to be hammered by criticism of partisan news reporting by the PN.
What Changes Does Agius Propose for Malta’s Public Broadcasting?
“With the general election approaching, where citizens have the right to access full and impartial information, the government should ensure that the successor to Mark Sammut as the head of PBS is appointed via a public call,” Agius expressed.
While the principles of the EU Media Freedom Act officially come into force in August next year, Agius stated that unless the government intends to establish a CEO for a few months only, it should start attaching to the principles of the Media Freedom Act now with a public call.
“This would be an important first step toward improving media freedom in the country,” Agius stated.
Under the EU Media Freedom Act, member states must ensure that public service media providers are editorially and functionally autonomous and provide impartially a plurality of information and ideas to their audiences. Member States must also ensure that the guidelines for the appointment and the dismissal of the authority of management or the members of the management board of public service media providers ensure the independence of public service media providers.
“The head of management or the members of the management board of public service media providers shall be appointed based on transparent, open, effective and non-discriminatory procedures and transparent, objective, non-discriminatory and proportionate criteria laid down in advance at the national level. The duration of their term of office shall be sufficient for the effective independence of public service media providers,” the law says.
