A decision of the Broadcasting Authority on appeals filed by Arnold Cassola suggests that candidates are only entitled to airtime during an election period
BA doesn’t consider Cassola a permanent election candidate
The independent politician and recurring election candidate has lost 11 appeals to the Broadcasting Authority after party media stations failed to report on his media statements.
Cassola filed his appeals against Labour’s and the PN’s radio and television stations for failing to report on several media statements he had issued throughout March.
The authority ruled in all the cases that newsrooms have a right to exercise editorial discretion based on their evaluation of the news value of a statement.
It also pointed out that Cassola is not being considered an ‘election candidate’ because there had not been an upcoming election in March 2023.
Cassola said “While people like me and other third voices have only 33 days every 5 years to be heard, the Broadcasting Authority is allowing PN and PL candidates, like Peter Agius, Clint Flores, Steve Ellul and others to be reported day in day out on the media”.
