In view of the statement released by the Palestinian Broadcasting Corporation (PBC), demanding that the Coalition for Accountability and Integrity (AMAN) apologises for publishing allegedly erroneous information about contracted employees at the PBC; and in reference of an apparently organised media campaign launched by the PBC, official media outlets and public sector journalists against AMAN; and having examined the ostensibly invalid information, AMAN would like to note that the PBC statement is inaccurate and runs counter to the text of AMAN’s Report on “The state of Integrity and Combating Corruption 2018”, assuring that this report is based on documented and accurate information and reports.
It is worth noting that AMAN has already developed reports on promoting the environment of integrity, transparency and accountability in the work of the PBC considering the importance of this Corporation, which is operated by Palestinian taxpayer funds. At the time, AMAN’s reports highlighted several shortfalls and legal violations. Looking forward to the PBC cooperation, AMAN will seek to examine and update these reports over the upcoming period. It should be noted that AMAN is not the specialized body to evaluate the technical performance of public institution, and this task resides with relevant authorities. AMAN only seeks to consolidate integrity and transparency in the management of public finance and affairs.
Acting with professionalism, high responsibility and away from personalisation, AMAN presupposes that public institutions would be open to community accountability and values of democracy. Public institutions should not challenge corrective criticism. They may not use official media outlets to attack organisations and citizens with different views.
In the same context, AMAN sees little harm in apologising when it errs. This was the case a short while ago: AMAN courageously admitted it had made a mistake when it released a statistical figure. Then, AMAN made clear to the public all the circumstances that led to that mistake.
