Former Nationalist Party administrative council president, Pierre Portelli, quit politics after accepting to co-host a morning programme on the national television station.

Mr Portelli, a former Net TV journalist, teamed up with former journalist-turned-lawyer, Joe Mifsud, until recently the Labour Party’s international secretary, to host the daily morning programme, named TVAM.

The programme, which according to PBS editor Natalino Fenech, is “a different formula to the usual, run-of-the-mill breakfast shows”, will be a news analytical programme on the same lines as foreign stations, particularly Sky News.

Sources said the duo will be analysing the daily news and the day’s newspapers with various interviewees popping in and out of the revamped studio. PBS journalist Daphne Cassar will be the programme’s anchor. The programme will start on October 3 and will run between 7 a.m. and 9 a.m. every weekday.

When contacted, Dr Fenech confirmed the new programme will be different to the breakfast shows usually broadcast by TVM, particularly when veteran presenter John Bundy and then wine connoisseur Josef Bonello presented the programme Bonġu. Instead of competitions and interviews, the programme’s focus will revolve more around current affairs.

The programme’s producers, DeeMedia, are the same producers of the previous version of TVM’s breakfast show.

Regarding Mr Portelli’s participation in the programme, Dr Fenech explained that once DeeMedia put forward the three names, PBS requested that the presenters “do not have direct ties with political parties”. This resulted in Mr Portelli choosing to further his career in the media rather than politics.

Until last year, Mr Portelli, who owns a production house, Watermelon Media and Communications, produced and presented a current affairs programme, BlogTV, on Net Television.

Dr Mifsud, an active pro-Palestine supporter, started off as a journalist with Labour’s Super One and until the 2008 general conference held the post of Labour’s international secretary. He was replaced by veteran Alex Sceberras Trigona.

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