In Malta there exists a difference between government-run radio stations and private ones with regards to what is allowed 'on air'

Abstract

Ten years ago, Malta had two radio stations, both public. The Broadcasting Act (1991) broke the state monopoly and private stations mushroomed. Now as the decade draws to a close we have eleven private national stations, and three government-run ones. The owners of the private stations range from political organisations, to entrepreneurs, to the church. With the bombardment of radio we are facing today, have standards gone down? This study compares Radju Malta 2, as a public station on the FM band1 to four private ones: Super 1 Radio, belonging to the Malta Labour Party (MLP), Radio 101, owned by the Nationalist Party (PN), RTK, as the church's station, and Bay Radio, an independent music station. Comparisons were made with what the management at these stations feel is acceptable and as well as on what certain presenters think. These interviews were followed up with a one-week content analysis of the programming between 4.30pm and 6.30pm on the radios under study.