The media arms on opposite sides of the political arena have requested intervention in a constitutional case filed by Lovin Malta challenging a law that allows such party stations to bypass the principle of impartiality.
A provision under the Broadcasting Act, namely the proviso to Article 13, allowed the broadcasting watchdog to “close an eye” on the manner of operation of party-owned stations, considering the general output of programmes “together as a whole.”
At the time when that law came into effect, the government of the day had argued that party-owned stations, with their essentially “partisan message,” would eventually balance each other out.