82% want an independent public broadcaster

82.3% of the 600 participants in a University of Malta survey say that public broadcasting should operate independently from the government.

Asked whether PBS’ news reporting is in favour of the government, 32.2% of the participants answer ‘almost always’, whilst 16.9% say ‘always’.

77.5% believe that the quality of reporting would improve if the government gave up control and stayed out of PBS.

Independent media rarely perceived as neutral

Only 21.6% say that independent media are objective and neutral, while 33% think that independent media have their own agenda and 30.6% believe that independent media try to hide their political bias.

Every second respondent (52.6%) doesn’t feel the need to look for a second source of the same news story.

This seems particularly problematic when looking at an overwhelming 84.1% who say that the biased news programmes on the parties’ stations One and Net should remain.

The statistics on how the public perceives local media were presented by statistician and lecturer Vincent Marmara.

The survey, concluded in October 2021, was commissioned by the Ministry within the Office of the Prime Minister, which also controls public broadcasting.