UPDATED - Adds Joe Grima's reaction - The Nationalist Party has protested to One TV that the microphone used by Nationalist MP Francis Zammit Dimech was switched off during various parts of the One TV discussion programme Inkontri on Monday.
In reply, presented Joe Grima said this was a non-event and the microphone was only switched off because Dr Zammit Dimech was unruly and the next speaker could not be heard.
In a letter to One Products, the PN complained of bias and discrimination during the programme.
It said that during a break in the programme, Dr Zammit Dimech complained to the programme presenter after having been notified of what was happening by a viewer.
He was told that the programme director had ordered that the microphone should be switched off when other programme guests were speaking.
However, the PN said, this had applied only to Dr Zammit Dimech. This, it said, was abusive and discriminatory behaviour which went against the basic requirements of freedom of expression.
It added that there had also been instances when, while Dr Zammit Dimech was speaking, his microphone's volume was turned down.
The PN requested an investigation and a remedy.
The letter was copied to the Broadcasting Authority.
INKONTRI PRESENTER'S REPLY
In a reply sent to the Broadcasting Authroity, programme presenter Joe Grima said he had given Dr Zammit Dimech an opportunity to make a second intervention because he felt that he could have points to reply to previous speakers. He asked Dr Zammit Dimech to be brief. He was not.
"Dr Zammit Dimech ignored my repeated exhortations for him to conclude. I had to move to the next speaker, Dr Wenzu Mintoff for the Labour Party, and I did. At that moment the Director, aware of my repeated calls for Dr Zammit Dimech to stop his intervention, and having heard my call to Dr Mintoff to commence, decided to switch off Dr Zammit Dimech so that Dr Mintoff's comments could in fact be heard by our viewers. The decision to switch off the microphone was a technical one not an editorial decision. The latter would rest entirely with me and with no one else."
Mr Grima said he acknowledged that, with a looming election, political parties and especially contesting candidates would be out to get as much media publicity as they could get and Dr Francis Zammit would be no exception.
"This non-event has been turned into a political incident by the Nationalist Party with all sorts of imagined infringements of the democratic process tailed to it and all sorts of allegations being drawn from it. The PN is wrong. This was a simple technical decision that had to be taken by the Director of the programme because Dr Zammit Dimech was unruly and would not allow the next speaker to be heard. Also, this was limited to only one occasion, not several", Mr Grima said.
"The fact is that there has been no incident. Had there been one I would have been the first to apologize to Dr Zammit Dimech and to offer amends. In this particular case I find no reason to."
He said he would welcome an investigation by the Broadcasting Authority into the incident and to have the Authority's public verdict announced when the investigation was concluded.