Popular TV presenter Mark Laurence Zammit has announced that he will stop presenting the current affairs programme L-Erbgħa Fost il-Ġimgħa on TVM, blaming interference from the national broadcaster for his decision.

Zammit, who found fame as one of the presenters on Xarabank, was the host of the programme L-Erbgħa Fost il-Ġimgħa, which aired every Wednesday on TVM and which dealt with a number of current affairs topics.

The programme soon garnered widespread popularity, especially after Xarabank came to an end, with surveys showing that it was Malta’s popular journalism and discussion programme.

Sharing his decision on Facebook, Zammit said that “in recent months I had a lot of interference from PBS, interference which was not leaving me free to work in accordance with my journalistic principles and which was clearly trying to confuse my loyalty towards the audience”.

He said that this is why he took the decision to stop doing the programme: “My loyalty was, is, and always will be to the people and not to political powers”, he said.

Zammit called this the most difficult decision of his life, as he was living his life’s dream in hosting the programme.  “But even the biggest dreams become nightmares if they are not lived in line with one’s conscience”, he said.

He thanked the production team behind the programme, and the thousands who would tune in to watch his programme.

Zammit said that he would be continuing his work with the Times of Malta from Monday.