The Prime Minister fails to turn up to his own TVM press conference

In the run-up to every general election, the Broadcasting Authority holds a series of televised political debates and press conferences on the public service broadcaster, TVM. Two of the main features of this mini-series are a press conference for the Prime Minister and another one for the Opposition leader, at which they field questions put to them by several journalists invited by the Broadcasting Authority.

The political leaders relish this opportunity to cut an inspiring figure with a large television audience, given that under Malta’s strict broadcasting regulations on ‘political balance’, they have to fight for every bit of exposure on TVM that they can get.

But instead of marching onto our screens in a blaze of confident glory, just days away from the election date, Muscat instead pulled out altogether, and sent a bloated and uninspiring Edward Zammit Lewis to replace him.

Of course, the Broadcasting Authority should have pulled the broadcast altogether, because it has got to obey its own strict rules. But instead it held a surreal ‘press conference with the Prime Minister’ featuring another government minister altogether.