No less than three people sent me a video-clip of last week's Dopo (One TV, Tuesday) in which Miss Kelly actually dared say that I signed my name to someone else's work.

I found this ludicrous. I sign this column because no one tells me what to write, and what not to. I don't see a need to hide behind pseudonyms, and I am responsible for all that appears in it. The same thing goes for every other feature under or over which my name appears, in both print and online media.

Whenever I mention anyone, here or elsewhere, in something that could be considered controversial, I always do so with the selfsame person's permission, after having researched my facts thoroughly.

Seeing that my timesofmalta address appears here, it would have been nice if the person who made the unwarranted attack on my professionalism contacted me beforehand to verify whether her conjectures were true or not.

Yet, frankly, I think that her misguided comments were more an effort to goad the guest into anger, than a slight on my journalistic integrity, intent as she was at out-talking her guest. That is why I will let it flow. Be that as it may, Ruth Frendo gave as good as she got - indicating that she is, indeed, the star I said she was.

Incidentally, the choice of photographs that appear with my articles is at the discretion of my editors.

The word is that Norma Saliba is resigning from PBS to further her career in an EU-related job at the Office ot the Prime Minister. She will, however, still grace our screens.

Yet PBS is engaging only three new people - who had been called for a second interview in order to negotiate their package, which was not as attractive as one would have thought it ought to be. This means that there will not be an extra person to cover any eventuality, because the brief (and the budget?) specified that only three had to be employed.

It's not when the new people's names are made public, but when their employ is made official that 'everyone' will know that the malicious gossip doing the rounds about some of our colleagues was totally unfounded.

Not many people realise that the PBS newsroom staff consists of both newscasters and journalists who execute the research and write-ups.

For reasons I cannot fathom, not every journalist is an anchor, and not every newscaster is a journalist, and some are both.

With reference to Focus, the new in-house current events programme slated to begin soon, not even the new complement would have been enough for this venture.

I am reliably informed that the PBS management has approached someone with a view to concluding negotiations about the direction of Focus. This person has already directed award-winning programmes on PBS, and was a cameraman and a director at Net. Since he is as yet undecided about whether to accept the position, it would not be fair to divulge his name.

Is it not ironic that PBS programme directors may get to lead farmed-out programmes, and the opposite may now apply too.

By this time we will all have confirmed that Gordon Pace and his brilliant team (often seen going into their headquarters, provided by PBS, when the rest of us are deciding whether to take a sickie, and put in far longer hours than what would have been their normal working day) have done a great job.

The ball started rolling long before the telephone lines were manned (yet, still, no one bothered to dig out the old lists of volunteers to give them a wake-up call).

The Gizelle people held a party on Friday night; DJ Ruby held an event, as was Paqpaqli Għall-Istrina. HSBC gave a start-up donation, and BoV matched the money in the piggy-banks at schools and shops... and there was the auction which also helped.

The Christmas special edition of Zmeraldi Teens (PBS) was a simple yet beautiful programme, and in part consisted of clips from young people talking in an enlightening refreshing way about Christmas, aeons away from the vapid world of partying and clothes.

We were then taken on a tour of the islands, to see several meritorious cribs, among which was one made of bread (at Qormi, of course!), the existence of which we would never have known about, were it not for this feature. Deborah Cassar and the youth choir Schola Cantorum Jubilate sang the praises of Christmas as a feast for everyone, for all time.

Like Għawdex Illum, Zmeraldi Teens is produced by CVC. This week's edition of the former programme was filmed in Turin, World Design Capital for 2008. It included interviews with Gozitan expats, and a feature about the recently-signed twinning agreement with the municipality of Nichelino, in the Turin Province. A friend who was visiting relatives told me that she was surprised to hear Maltese being spoken, and upon further investigation discovered that the Torino Tourism Authority gave the CVC crew star treatment.

At this point I cannot help getting on my soapbox again to insist that programmes like the above-mentioned two, Waltzing Matilda, Meander, and others that have both style and substance, deserve better than being shunted to and fro in the schedules, according to spaces that are available between more commercially-viable programmes.

Indeed, it is just because they are esoteric, and/or have a restricted viewership that they could boost TVM audiences unto recouping the coveted Stazzjon tas-Sena Award.

Tista' Tkun Int was never one of my favourite forms of entertainment. But seeing how it has been replaced by another washing-linen-in-public programme makes me wonder at how the cogs grind in the wheels of PBS.

television@timesofmalta.com