PN files Serataron impartiality complaint after leader’s wife not invited to Lydia Abela spot

The Nationalist Party has filed a complaint with the Broadcasting Authority after the Opposition’s leader wife, Anne Marie Grech, was not invited to a Friday night show on TVM.

In a Mother’s Day special last Friday, the variety show Serataron, presented by Ronald Briffa, had the Prime Minister’s wife Lydia Abela as a guest.

Addressing a press conference on Tuesday, Nationalist MP David Thake said the constitutional requisite for balance was breached when Anne Marie Grech was not invited on the same show.

Thake said the national broadcaster has become increasingly partisan, with the situation worsening under Prime Minister Robert Abela. “Similar situations must be flagged, and stopped by the station’s editorial board,” he said.

Nationalist MP David Thake and candidate Francine Farrugia addressing the press conference on Tuesday

In the protest filed by PN Secretary General Francis Zammit Dimech, the party said it expects the situation to be remedied.

Also addressing the press conference, candidate Francine Farrugia said the national broadcaster’s coverage is leading to the whole truth being hidden from viewers.

“It is the national broadcaster’s duty to ensure that the whole picture is shown to its viewers, and not be a tool for government which is influenced by what Robert Abela and his friends want,” she said.