MMC denies judges’ claims; says regulations were not violated

Maldives Media Council (MMC) has denied the allegations made by judges who vetted the 11th Journalism Awards while affirming regulations had not been violated in conferring the award in any category.

Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) has launched an investigation into a case involving the award.

MMC, via a statement on Monday, responded to allegations made by the judges regarding the award. In this regard, the Council explained that its administrative staff, upon receiving the nominations for the award, verify whether all required supporting documents. Once verified, the documents are sealed in an envelope and sent to the judges panel of the respective award category.

As per MMC, the aforesaid procedure was followed to ensure fairness and integrity in conferring the award.

They stressed that nominations documents submitted to the Council had not been privy to the its president, secretary general or any member.

Thus, MMC condemned the statement allegedly released by the judges who vetted the award questioning the fairness of the award and independence of the Commissions.

Main points raised by MMC, in their statement, are as follows:

• Only the judges panel has the full discretion to determine that a nomination does not meet the requirement under the regulations on Journalism Awards in order to ensure judges have the space to work independently
• The judges panel’s disqualification of some nominations submitted for the Journalism Awards in the social, judiciary and legal categories

MMC affirmed that regulations have not been violated in conferring the award in any category.

The controversy in the Journalism Awards relates to the video shown for a nominated work in the Audio and Video in Investigative Journalism category.

The issue had first come light after Public Service Media (PSM) which broadcasted the event live released a statement citing the state media had no prior knowledge of the video shown during the event and in this trajectory, alleged deceitful conduct. PSM also alleged that the video was not in line with its editorial policy and violated the ethics of journalism.

The state media’s board also dismissed MMC’s President Ahmed Musthafa, who was serving as the Technical Operations Manager at PSM, over the controversy. Musthafa, who at the time of his dismissal had worked in the company for over 30 years, was reinstated shortly afterward.

MMC member Ali Nishan (Millzero) also accused Musthafa of influencing the content shown to showcase the nominations.

Musthafa, in a statement in his capacity as the Council’s president, denied the allegation, citing he had no involvement in any matters related to the award.

The seven judges who evaluated this year’s applications for the award later released a statement claiming the Audio and Video in Investigative Journalism award was bestowed in violation of the regulations.

MMC’s Journalism Awards is vetted by an independent judges panel appointed for the purpose.

Notably, this year’s judges panel included many individuals who were on the panel during previous years.