The challenge of achieving impartiality in Maltese TV news programming JOANNA SPITERI Department of Communications, Media and Culture University of Stirling Thesis submitted for the degree PhD in Communications, Media and Culture February 2014 i DECLARATION This thesis has been composed by Joanna Spiteri. The work this thesis embodies has been done by Joanna Spiteri and has not been included in another thesis. Signed: Joanna Spiteri ii ii Acknowledgements After great effort perseverance, sacrifices and hard work, I have to dedicate part of this work to thank people and events which made this dream happen. Harold Scorey scholarship was a kickstart for this piece of work to happen, giving me an opportunity to start venturing in this big challenge. It meant the first financial grant which started the ball rolling. In the other years I had to be my main sponsor financially. There are many people who were instrumental in my endeavours in making this thesis a reality. First of all I would like to thank my husband Marco and my 7 year old son Yevgeny for their love and their patience even when at times I gave priority to my thesis. Without their understanding, this thesis would not have been possible. Special thanks to my husband who supported me in every way until the final task of this project, and who accompanied me, together with our young son, for every visit to Stirling University and giving me moral support. He was the one to encourage me to continue this pursuit even during tough times. And my dear son Yevgeny who though at a young age understood that mum had to work on her research rather than spend some time with him. He grew with this study through his 7 years; it all started some months before he was born. There are also a number of people who helped me directly and indirectly in this enduring project and which I would like to thank for their help and support. Though I was doing this research away from Stirling University, I was not alone on this road and was supported by my two great supervisors, Prof Matthew Hibberd and Richard Kilborn, who thanks to them i they were always willing to coach, help and motivate me. My appreciation goes for their constant advice and support. Thanks to Professor Matthew Hibberd, my main supervisor who joined half way through this challenge but was supportive throughout with his academical suggestions. A big thank you to Richard Kilborn who has been with me in this pursuit from day one and was never short of words of encouragement; helping with corrections, even with suggestions on the excellent use of expressive English. We managed to build a trio relationship even though we only met during my yearly visits at Stirling University while taking the opportunity of enjoying the beauty of its campus. Definitely the walk from Pathfoot Building to the University Library used to give me the energy to spend the days researching. Stirling University and its campus is just heaven on earth! I cannot forget Prof Dr Simon Frith who was the first academic who put his trust in me and accepted me as a PhD student at Stirling University a couple of years ago. Also thanks to Dr Gillian Doyle who was my very first supervisor together with Richard Kilborn. Being a process this thesis did pass through changes since the early years of her supervision. Obviously other people at Stirling University helped me out in some way or another, even if their contribution might be thought to be minimal, they were a great sigh of relief in times of queries, more so when doing research away from University. A word of thanks to other people in Malta who helped me pursue this study, my ex boss Prof Kevin Aquilina who was there whenever I had a query related to the study even when he left his role as Chief Executive of the Broadcasting Authority to pursue a career as a ii Dean of the Faculty of Law at the University of Malta. Special thanks to the present Chief Executive at the Broadcasting Authority, my present boss Pierre Cassar who continued to be of help and great support in this project until the final years. Together with the present BA chairman Anthony J Tabone who had words of encouragement when at times this challenge was getting tough. Thanks for their understanding, I managed to juggle this academic work with the busy schedule at the Broadcasting Authority. It was really tough but thanks to the endurance of close people around me and good time management, I managed to see the light at the end of the tunnel! Furthermore I would like to thank all those people – news editors, journalists, regulators who accepted to be interviewed, even though that meant giving up some time from their busy schedule. Thanks also for the participants in the focus group who accepted to take part in this research. Their participation was an intrinsic element of this thesis. Thanks to the Chief Executive at PBS Ltd, Anton Attard, for giving me the go ahead to use PBS news statistics compiled by PBS personnel and which generally such statistics are used for internal consumption. Thanks to a number of other close friends who were always ready to give a word of moral support. Their indirect support did keep me going. Thanks to one of my best friends Maria who was my point of reference for translations when I was in doubt with parts of some interviews and focus group sessions. iii My final acknowledgement goes to all those who have, throughout the years instilled in me the love of journalism but also academia, my favourite areas which I want to continue contributing in the future. Particularly thanks to my father, who is not with us anymore but at least he knew I started to pursue this doctorate; he would have been very happy if he had seen the finishing line of it! Thanks to my mother and my brother who are here to see this mission accomplished. iv Abstract This study examines some of the challenges that Maltese broadcasting is facing with respect to the news programming produced by the public service broadcaster and by the other two political stations. The thesis also investigates the concepts of balance and objectivity in news reporting and analyzes the extent to which Maltese TV news programmes succeed in providing balanced, impartial and accurate accounts. Special attention is paid to the role of the public service broadcaster, but consideration is also given to the part played by the two Maltese political stations competing with the public service broadcaster. A particular aim of this study is to measure how the requirement to preserve impartiality and balance impinges on the content of TV news bulletins and current affairs programmes produced by PSB and the other two political stations. The study will also consider the impact of current broadcasting regulations and will examine the degree to which such legislation is relevant in the attempt to achieve impartiality and balance in Maltese news broadcasting. As a basis for the study the thesis focuses on a sample of news programming material broadcast on the three television stations in Malta during a Local Council electoral campaign. The aim is to assess how various news messages are communicated to audiences and to consider whether such messages are perceived as impartial and balanced by the viewers. The study explores how news workers and news producers strive to achieve impartiality and balance in their day-to-day practices. Finally the thesis makes one or two tentative suggestions as to how current broadcasting legislation might be amended in order v for the Broadcasting Authority can become a more effective watchdog and is able to intervene in cases where news programming is not deemed to be balanced and impartial. vi Preface This thesis is the product of a long germination period. Being an avid news junkie myself, and after having spent the early part of my career as a journalist at the Public Service Broadcaster in Malta, my interest in journalism and in news broadcasting practices has deepened. Such enthusiasm remained even when I ceased being a practising journalist and joined the Broadcasting Authority team. It was this that provided the original stimulus to pursue this study. Issues relating to impartiality, objectivity and balance are central concepts in the production of broadcast news. In my professional role at the helm of the Monitoring Department at the Broadcasting Authority, news programming is given priority over other monitoring work, since one of our major remits is to ensure that impartiality and balance are adhered to in this sector of programming. Though a number of years have passed since I began this research and though several changes in broadcasting have occurred during this time, the fundamental need to preserve impartiality, balance and objectivity in news reporting has remained unchanged. The production of this study has been a challenging journey, but now that the journey is completed I hope that some of my findings will prove useful to broadcasters and to those working for regulatory bodies, as well as those responsible for framing future legislation. In this study a qualitative methodology has been applied in order to explore the extent to which impartiality, balance and objectivity is achieved in the process of news production. This study also delves into the way that messages are communicated to viewers via these vii broadcast texts. Particular consideration is given to the extent to which viewers are able to determine whether the messages received are indeed impartial and/or balanced.