Broadcasting Authority chairman Joseph Scicluna yesterday defended the authority's decision to stop Bondiplus from producing a programme on the budget on Monday.

Mr Scicluna argued that the producer's proposal of having a show about the opposition without one of its representatives present was unheard of.

He was reacting to a letter sent to the BA by the Public Broadcasting Services' lawyer complaining about the ruling.

The programme would have taken place back-to-back with the Opposition Leader's official reaction to the budget. Instead, however, Lou Bondì hosted a show about Dutch abortion activist Rebecca Gompert "under protest".

The show about Dr Gomperts was actually the one featured in the schedule. However, the producers had decided last Thursday to switch the subject to an analysis of Alfred Sant's official reaction to the budget speech.

The Labour Party's deputy leader, Charles Mangion, had informally agreed to take part, as did Parliamentary Secretary Tonio Fenech.

However, MLP secretary general Jason Micallef contacted the BA on Saturday protesting about the programme and the party withdrew its participation.

The BA later said it had rejected Mr Bondì's request for the switch to take place, insisting he sticks to the agreed schedule.

In its protest letter, the PBS said that, with its decision, the BA had given the MLP a right to veto the programme simply by not attending, fundamentally breaching the Constitution in the process.

When contacted, Mr Bondì said the BA ordered PBS to stop the programme on grounds that the broadcasting watchdog had not been informed in time of the change and also because it would not have been balanced without an MLP representative.

He contested both arguments, saying he had a letter showing that the authority knew in time about the changes and, more importantly, that if the BA's precedent is accepted, all a person needs to do to stop a programme is simply not attend.

Mr Scicluna, however, insisted with The Times that the BA decision was taken within the context of this particular programme and did not set any precedent.

"It is simply not true that the authority has decided it would cancel a show whenever one party decides not to attend," he emphasised, "but we believe that, in this particular case, when you have a programme which deals with the official reaction of the Opposition Leader to the budget, without a representative of the opposition there would not have been the balance required by the Constitution.

"He (Mr Bondì) was prepared to produce a programme without a representative of the opposition taking part. In which democratic country would this happen," Mr Scicluna asked.

When it was pointed out to him that it was the opposition itself that had opted not to be present, Mr Scicluna insisted that the BA had to see things from all points of view.

"The onus placed on us by the Constitution is that a programme needs to be balanced. We believed that that balance could not be achieved."

As for Mr Bondì's comments regarding the 24-hour notice he was supposed to have given the BA, Mr Scicluna ruled out that this was an issue in this instance.

The authority had issued guidelines to PBS demanding it be informed of any changes to the schedule of current affairs programmes.

Last Friday, in fact, the BA fined PBS Lm2,000, suspended for a year, after Bondiplus decided to conduct a show about the PN's national conference without informing it. This time round, it threatened a fine of up to Lm15,000.

But the matter had no bearing on this latest ruling, he said.

The MLP, as expected, was satisfied with the outcome.

Mr Micallef said the BA ruling was in synch with the opinion of PBS's own editorial board and its managerial staff.

"As usual, however, the ones against are chairman Joe Fenech Conti and Bondiplus," he said, alluding to the recent public row over the winter schedule of programmes between the editorial board and the board of directors.

"I think it's worth pointing out that Bondiplus was also one of the bones of contention," he added.

"Had the PBS staff decided to do such an analysis programme we would not have had a problem but it just didn't make sense... to give the government an opportunity to reply to the budget on the day when it is constitutionally entitled to a reply on Wednesday."

The secretary general of the Nationalist Party, Joe Saliba, on the other hand said the decision sets a dangerous precedent, adding he believed the authority had succumbed to Labour's pressure.

He said that one of the members nominated by the MLP to sit on the BA, Reno Borg, was ironically commenting on Dr Sant's speech during an analysis programme on Super One, approximately at the time when Bondiplus was airing the Gomperts show in protest.

"It doesn't seem the authority had a problem with the analysis there," he said.

As for Mr Scicluna's arguments regarding the absence of the opposition on a show dealing with its leader's official reaction to the budget, Mr Saliba said the responsibility for having its representative there fell on the MLP.