Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/829797
maltatoday, TUESDAY, 30 MAY 2017 YANNICK PACE BOYCOTTING the Broadcast- ing Authority debate with the small political parties, Alter- nattiva Demokratika accused the Broadcasting Authority of resembling the authority of a country like Zimbabwe, due to its lack of impartiality and ser- vility towards the country's two big parties. Speaking outside the Public Broadcasting Services build- ing where a debate was being recorded with other leaders of smaller parties contesting the election, AD chairperson Arnold Cassola criticised the BA for its decision to "scrap all three debates in which AD was involved with the Nationalist and Labour parties. AD pulled out of the debate at the last minute, in protest at what it deems to be unfair treat- ment by the BA. In addition to being omitted from the BA debate, AD is pro- testing the BA's recommenda- tion that the party be left out of the Xarabank debate last Friday, as well as the fact that the BA objected to an AD candidate "appearing for ten minutes" on television programme Skjetti. "It has not enforced the direc- tive that AD candidates should appear on NET and ONE TV stations in political debates," added Cassola. "All this while the candidates on the PN and PL lists are given 24-hour exposure daily on these stations, and they even take the BA for a ride, by pretending to be guests rather than present- ing the programmes them- selves, which they do in reality. Secretary General Ralph Cas- sar said that following last Friday's Xarabank debate, the country had been left none the wiser. "A slinging match from begin- ning to end; a tit for tat encoun- ter in an effort to portray the other party as the murkier of the two," he said. He stressed that despite not being invited, AD had a lot to say, but that unfortunately "edi- torially the die had been cast". He insisted that the PL and PN did not want to debate with AD and that the BA was complicit in allowing this to happen. "Appointed by the PL and PN equally, the BA serves to ac- commodate its political mas- ters," said Cassar. "To hell with anything associated with the right for the electorate to be fully informed." Furthermore, said Cassar, the BA found no problem with al- lowing the national broadcaster to "air snippets lifted from NET and ONE to be aired on PBS news". He insisted that both parties' stations had a legal obligation to represent what AD and others had to say. "As everybody can attest, AD is conspicuous by its absence on these stations. The law is bro- ken and nothing happens." he said. He said the BA was "notori- ously toothless" in dealing with the two big parties but became "very categorical" when it dealt with AD, adding that the BA's position as regards to AD was tantamount to apartheid. "Of course, the PN, on its proverbial moral high horse as saviour of democracy, finds no problem playing ball," he in- sisted. "This is symptomatic of the institutional malaise that our country is afflicted by. It is this which is at the bottom of our country's ills, not who governs." News Fresh FISH Fresh Aged Beef FRESH Pasta & SEAFOOD For reservations please call: 2346 6666 Fortina Spa Resort, Tigné Seafront Sliema, SLM 3012, Malta www.FortinaSpaResort.com Alternattiva Demokratika boycotts 'Zimbabwe' Broadcasting Authority debate