Labour newspaper KullĦadd supplement packed with ministry adverts

The lion’s share of a supplement in the Labour Party’s newspaper on Sunday was taken up by government adverts, a situation that could see ministers fall foul of the Standards Commissioner’s recent guidelines.

The only content of KullĦadd's “special” supplement, celebrating two years of Prime Minister Robert Abela’s premiership and the Labour government’s work from 2020, was a list of “24 records in 24 months”. 

Of its 32 pages, 28 were state adverts, extolling the achievements of ministries and entities.

Some of the adverts that funded the PL’s publication were double-page spreads. The Senior Citizens Ministry took out four full pages.

Only three ministries – tourism, foreign affairs and finance – did not support the publication and trumpet their own accomplishments.

“This was a special supplement, as other private newspapers issued many times in the past, and they asked for government adverts,” a spokesperson for the Office of the Prime Minister said, adding it was looking into the matter. 

The OPM was asked for an explanation and whether this was considered out of line, given the recent guidelines by the Standards Commissioner and recommendations by the Daphne Caruana Galizia...