PN takes PBS to court over impartiality, citing Ricky Caruana as an example

The Nationalist Party is challenging PBS and the Broadcasting Authority over alleged systematic bias in public broadcasting, citing presenter Ricky Caruana’s political activity as an example of failures to enforce impartiality rules.

The constitutional application argues that unequal news coverage and the failure to address presenters’ public conduct have breached the party’s rights to freedom of expression, protection against political discrimination and an effective remedy.

It seeks declarations of constitutional breaches, corrective measures and compensation from the two defendants.

Caruana is not a defendant. The PN expressly states that it seeks no finding against him personally, presenting his conduct as evidence of what it describes as a broader institutional failure.

The application’s first complaint concerns the imbalance between Government and Opposition representatives appearing in PBS news soundbites.

It cites a parliamentary answer stating that, between 1 June 2025 and 31 May 2026, PBS broadcast 532 soundbites featuring Government members, compared with 66 featuring Opposition members – a ratio of roughly eight to one.

According to the application, the Broadcasting Authority had already upheld complaints about soundbite imbalances in August 2022, March 2023 and March 2024.

The PN argues that those decisions failed to secure lasting change, despite the Authority warning in 2024 that repeated breaches would require further measures.

The party also accuses the Authority of withholding monitoring information requested to establish whether PBS was complying with its decisions. The application quotes the Authority describing the information it collected as being for internal analysis and directing the PN to seek it from the broadcaster.

The second strand focuses on the impartiality obligations of public-service presenters and producers, using Caruana as its principal example.

The application cites social-media posts promoting Government projects, comments attacking the PN, and appearances at Labour Party electoral activities. It also alleges that Caruana receives payments from ministries and Government entities to promote their work.

The PN argues that such financial relationships create conflicts when the same presenter interviews ministers on the public broadcaster.

It invokes broadcasting rules covering producers’ outside interests and presenters’ public expressions of political support, alongside PBS’s own ethics guidelines.

According to the application, a parliamentary answer stated that PBS had recorded no cases of enforcing or attempting to enforce the relevant presenter-impartiality provision during the period covered by the question.

The party further points to PBS’s decision to give Caruana a new programme, “Wara l-Ħdax ma’ RICKY”, scheduled to begin in October 2026.

It argues that retaining him demonstrates an active decision to continue the relationship despite the conduct described in the application.

The PN maintains that its complaint extends beyond one presenter and concerns the defendants’ alleged systematic failure to uphold public-broadcasting impartiality.

The application asks the court to order effective remedies to correct the alleged imbalance and prevent it from continuing, and to award pecuniary and non-pecuniary damages, interest and costs.

The application was signed by lawyers Michael Piccinino, David Bonello and Thomas De Martino.