European broadcasters avoid PBS when reporting from Malta

“They [PBS] no longer reply if we ask for camera crew at the going international rate of €1,200 excluding VAT per day”, sources at a foreign public broadcaster told NEWZ.mt.

Member stations of the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) usually assist one another, regardless of national government stances on stories.

“Honestly, even if they replied to our requests, we would be having a hard time working with them due to their extreme pro-government bias and the lack of English language comprehension of their staff”.

They also criticised the production quality level delivered by PBS camera crew they were provided with in past productions when filming in Malta.

The attitude shown by ‘Gwardamanġa Hill’ to fellow European public broadcasters doesn’t only influence enquiries for technical assistance but also very basic requests for archive material, this newsroom has been told.

“PBS simply ignores our requests whenever their scope smells of critical reporting that doesn’t politically benefit the Maltese Labour government”.

“It’s not just about the political bias”, another journalist working for German ARD said: “It’s about basic professionalism according to technical EBU regulations”.

Another source, working for the BBC, told NEWZ.mt that “it has become unviable to even think of asking TVM for assistance” when reporting from Malta.

Malta’s government station has become as unreliable to work with as Hungarian public broadcaster Magyar Televízió (MTV) under Viktor Orbán, they added.

Public Broadcasting Services Limited (PBS) has failed to reply to questions on the matter sent by this newsroom.

The Institute of Maltese Journalists (IĠM) has also been asked for a comment.