Court cuts short PBS attempt to slow down PN case over bias

The court has rejected a request by the state broadcaster PBS and the Broadcasting Authority to have their preliminary objections decided before the substance of the Nationalist Party’s constitutional case over alleged broadcasting bias.

In a decree, Judge Charmaine Galea ordered proceedings to continue towards a single judgment addressing all claims and objections.

The PN is alleging systematic imbalance in national television news bulletins, a lack of impartiality, citing DJ and presenter Ricky Caruana as an example, and failures by the Broadcasting Authority. It argues that these breached its freedom of expression and amounted to discrimination because of its political opinions.

PBS and the Authority sought an initial determination of objections that could prevent consideration of the merits. Hearing those objections separately could have delayed the case. They included arguments that the PN had other available remedies and had failed to exhaust ordinary procedures.

The objections also concern responsibility for the allegations involving Caruana.

PBS maintained that the PN had not complained about the presenter to either the station or the Authority. The Authority argued that allegations concerning breaches of PBS’s ethics code should be addressed to Caruana and disputed its responsibility for enforcing the provisions invoked.

The PN, through its lawyer and MP Michael Piccinino, opposed separate decisions, arguing that the court had already agreed to hear the case urgently.

Judge Galea agreed that the issues should be decided together, saying the preliminary nature of an objection did not automatically require it to be decided separately and before the merits.

The court had to consider whether separate decisions would improve efficiency or instead cause fragmentation and unnecessary delay.

Given the subject matter and the urgency already granted, the judge considered one judgment preferable, avoiding potential delays associated with appeals from partial judgments.