(Adds PBS statement and video)

A web to back GonziPN and which was passing subtle and less subtle messages in favour of the present government was being woven at Public Broadcasting Services, PL spokesman Gino Cauchi told a news conference this afternoon.

He said that the PBS administration was made up of people who were within the GonziPN party or very close to it for the state broadcasting station to be used as an integral part of the GonziPN campaign.

Mr Cauchi criticised the role of PBS in the spin about Labour freezing the minimum wage and noted that it did not report anything about the fact that Richard Cachia Caruana had retained the title of ambassador.

PBS, Mr Cauchi said, had also tried to diminish the importance of Franco Debono’s declaration in Parliament last week, that he would not be voting in favour of the budget.

PBS statement

In a reply, PBS said that for the second time in a few days, Mr Cauchi was making untrue claims about PBS.

Mr Cauchi, PBS charged, tried to manipulate a story written by a veteran PBS journalist who was reporting the Prime Minister, which story was, according to Mr Cauchi a manipulation of what the Opposition leader had said.

PBS said that its employees included a former member of the PL executive, the former international secretary of the PL and a number of former One TV employees. These workers were all engaged for their capabilities.

TVM knew and understood that audiences were intelligent and could choose and that was why its audiences in the past years had continued to grow, it said.