TV presenter Salvu Mallia has vowed to continue speaking his mind, despite what he says are attempts by the government to silence him by axing his popular programme on PBS.
He explained that the production house behind the show, Madwarna, was informed by PBS by telephone yesterday that the show was cancelled. In comments to this paper, Mr Mallia said his outspoken approach had nothing to do with partisan politics.
“If there is a mafioso clique in Castille, as a citizen I have a duty to speak up about it. That is what I did, I spoke up. Every person has a duty to do so. I am not inventing the scandals,” Mr Mallia said.
Saying he was “stupid enough to vote for Joseph Muscat in the last election,” Mr Mallia said he suspected the decision to axe his programme was taken “at the highest level”.
I was stupid enough to vote for Joseph Muscat
Mr Mallia has been linked to Marlene Farrugia’s new Democratic Party and has been openly critical of the Labour government, though he has not spared any punches for the Nationalist Party.
Asked if he had spoken to new PBS CEO John Bundy about the termination of his programme, Mr Mallia said Mr Bundy had washed his hands of the matter. “I told Mr Bundy that he is helping them create a dictatorship. I told him that it is a shame seeing Bundy turning into [former PBS presenter Lou] Bondi,” Mr Mallia said.
He insisted that the government had made a mistake thinking that the move would shut him up. The sudden termination of Mr Mallia’s programme comes hot on the heels of the axing of the Times of Malta’s news analysis programme Times Talk.
Attempts were also made to end Xarabank, which has enjoyed a 19-year run. Host Peppi Azzopardi was informed by PBS earlier this month that his show was cancelled, but the decision was reversed later.
Nationalist Party spokesman Clyde Puli said the news about the axed TVM programmes confirmed that the national station, financed by taxpayers, was being used by Castille as a partisan tool.
Mr Puli said this was nothing but a direct attack on freedom of expression, because the only reason behind these decisions was Castille getting back at those who had tackled the Panama Papers scandal.
It was an attack on the free media, since the decisions were made to stop the Times of Malta and The Malta Independent from having a discussion programme on national television, Mr Puli said.
Correction: The headline was amended at 9.13pm to reflect the fact that Mr Mallia directed his 'You won't shut me up' phrase to the government, rather than PBS as originally implied. The error is regretted.