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maltatoday, SUNDAY, 22 JUNE 2014 3 News V18 boss claims PBS chief poaching Labour TV productions MIRIAM DALLI A video production by the Malta Police Force has been pulled offline because it was deemed "amateurish", "bad for the country's corporate im- age" and "non-factual". The video, targeting foreign stu- dents, was wholly directed and pro- duced by the Police and featured Superintendent Sharon Tanti warn- ing students about the dangers of excessive alcohol drinking, jumping from heights, parading in bikinis and skinny dipping. It also featured a staged tragedy at Comino of a student dying after jumping from a height and hitting rocks – a tragedy that has fortunate- ly never occurred. Not necessarily for the right rea- sons, the video was said to have received over 60,000 views on YouTube. It was taken offline yesterday on orders of the Home Affairs Ministry, which was not involved in the mak- ing of the video. "Contrary to other videos, this one didn't enjoy the ministry's approval," Police Commissioner Peter Paul Zammit said when contacted. According to the Police Commis- sioner, the video was produced to- gether with the Federation of English Language Teaching Organisations Malta (FELTOM), the Ministry of Education and the Malta Tourism Association. He praised the police officers' ef- fort in producing the video as similar videos had been produced abroad. The police chief conceded that there might be a number of short- comings: "After all it was produced by us with the limited equipment we have available." As to what will happen to the video now is still an open question, Zam- mit added. "The work carried out on the vid- eo was appreciated even though it might have not been up to standard. We will look at the shortcomings… maybe it was too long… but there is room for improvement. And if we are going to improve it, well, good luck to everyone involved," he said. But the length of the video – seven minutes – was not the only problem. Wrong editing, poor use of English and dramatised events sent govern- ment officials through the roof, wor- ried that the video would actually scare people away. The cherry on the cake, sources said, was that the Police staged a death at Comino when such a trag- edy never occurred. The video fea- tured a young man splayed on a rock with 'blood' supposedly gushing out: "We have had spinal injuries… but thankfully we never had such a trag- edy. With all the good intentions, the video sent a wrong message about Malta." According to MTA sources, the authority's higher echelons were not informed about the video. Home Affairs chief of staff Silvio Scerri confirmed that the video was taken offline on the government's advice. "It was too dramatised. Moreover, the production is not professional and this impacts the corporate image of the country. We have a depart- ment at PBS that focuses on drama who would be the most suitable to perform such a job," Scerri said. He added that informative videos should be based on facts and not on what could happen. Meanwhile, the government has already started working on profes- sional videos promoting the works of the Police Force and the Armed Forces of Malta. Although the video was pulled off YouTube by the police, TV presenter John Bundy – whose feud with home affairs ministry chief of staff Silvio Scerri is an ongoing public affair – uploaded the video on his personal YouTube page. WATCH the video at http://bit.ly/1powaQJ MIRIAM DALLI ONE TV chairman Jason Micallef has accused Anton Attard, the chief executive of national broad- caster PBS, of trying to poach pro- ductions from the Labour Party's media. Posting an irate status on Face- book, Micallef – also chairman of V18 – accused Attard of "prostitut- ing himself to steal" popular pro- grammes from One TV. It appears that the production houses which aired their pro- grammes on One TV have now ap- plied to produce their programmes on TVM. These production houses followed the normal procedure after PBS published a programme statement of intent. Contacted by MaltaToday, Atta- rd initially refused to comment on the matter. But in a statement is- sued later in the afternoon, Attard said programme selection at PBS was done according to the national broadcasting policy. "Following the publication of the PSI, a number of production hous- es having programmes which are currently aired on One TV submit- ted an application. The shortlist of the programmes is done by the edi- torial board of PBS and not by the CEO. The schedule of programmes is then approved by the board of directors," Attard said. He categorically denied ap- proaching any production houses whose programmes aired on ONE TV: "I did not approach anyone having programmes currently aired on One TV to submit an applica- tion with PBS." Attard said he could not un- derstand how he can be held re- sponsible if private TV producers were interested in airing their pro- grammes on PBS. Micallef, on the other hand, said "it is good to have competition but it is unacceptable that the state TV, or better Anton Attard, metaphori- cally prostitutes himself to steal talent and productions airing on One TV". The former Labour secretary- general explained to Facebook fol- lowers that Attard had once ran PN television station Net TV and that he organised logistics during PN activities. "If those in power ap- proving these excesses think that I will remain silent, they are wrong. ONE is there because of the sup- port of the people and these people have a right to know what is go- ing on behind the curtains. These people have been supporting ONE since its infancy and it is now being strangely undermined," he said. Micallef's Facebook comment generated a lot of feedback, includ- ing One Radio head Clint Bajada. Replying to Micallef's statement, Bajada said Micallef had the sup- port of both employees and audi- ences. "ONE was instrumental for Labour to deliver its message and to win the elections with an over- whelming majority… we will not allow anyone to hinder our suc- cesses," Bajada said. Home Affairs Ministry ordered Police to take down video targeting foreign students 'Amateurish' police promo pulled offline Staged tragedy at Comino: still from the Malta Police Force's retracted video production. Top: Sharon Tanti