PBS have released a statement saying that there was no need for the ‘order’ given today, as the board of PBS had already met and agreed to have Dissett host both Deputy Leaders (Simon Busuttil and Louis Grech).

The board had come to this decision following the request by the BA as well as the plea by PL Deputy Leader Louis Grech to have Dr. Busuttil on the show as Mr. Grech will not be able to be on the Xarabank show on January 11 due to personal reasons.

it honestly thought that the Broadcasting Authority wanted to send a message to the political parties saying that it is PBS who decides the format of its shows and what is to be discussed and not the political parties.

PBS stated that it takes this negative development very seriously and will further explain its position in the coming days.

The Broadcasting Authority (BA) had ordered PBS to follow the recommendation it made on December 29, regarding the programme Dissett.

On December 29 the programme Dissett was requested to re-schedule and host both PN Deputy Leader Simon Busuttil and PL Deputy Leader Louis Grech on January 5. PBS chose to acknowledge the recommendation but insisted that it be the one to decide what does on in its own programmes.

The BA statement read that; “this will not be tolerated, especially in such sensitive times right before the start of electoral campaigns”.

Under Article 15 of the Public Broadcasting Law, the BA is ordering PBS to host this Saturday’s programme with Both Simon Busuttil and Louis Grech, rather than the Labour Deputy Leader on his own. Aside from that, PBS must read out this bulletin on the news at 20.00h, tonight.

The Authority is not pleased by PBS’ decision to not immediately accept the Authority’s recommendation regarding the programme and is sorry that the PBS chose to put itself above the decision of the Authority.