“PBS censors the President when speaking against abortion” – Coalition

by Gozo News · January 28, 2023

"PBS censors the President when speaking against abortion" - Coalition Life Network Foundation, Doctors for Life and I See Life, on behalf of the Inti Tista’ Ssalvani coalition, have complained about what they say is the “PBS censorship of the President when speaking against abortion.”

The coalition claimed that the PBS newsroom “decided to report everything the President said apart from what he said about abortion.”

The President said during this engagement that “millions of unborn babies are being killed before they even have the possibility to see the light of day,” they said.

The coalition is complaining about the censorship carried out by PBS, in the news service that appeared on TVM on the 26th of January, about what the President said in commemoration of the Holocaust.

The coalition have written to PBS and the Broadcasting Authority in regard to the Broadcasting Act.

“This strong statement from the President deserved attention and the fact that PBS decided not to report this, particularly in the present circumstances is an attempt to censor the President,” the coalition said.

It also stated that, “this is not the first case where the PBS newsroom has chosen to be selective and censor its reporting. This was also done in the case of Ms. Prudente where PBS newsroom completely censored what the doctors said.”

“All this is in violation of the clear provision of the Constitution of Malta as well as the provisions in the Broadcasting law which extend this obligation directly to the public broadcaster and which impose on it the obligation to ensure that the services of its news are objective and comprehensive,” the coalition said.

“This cannot be done if the public broadcaster, instead of serving as an instrument to provide all the information to which the people have a right, is an instrument of censorship.

“For these reasons, we are asking that what the President said be reported without censorship,” the coalition said.

It added that a copy of the complaint was sent to the Broadcasting Authority in accordance with the Code for the Investigation and Determination of Complaints (Subsidiary Legislation 350.06).