PN MP Claudette Buttigieg and PN Secretary General Michael Piccinino on Thursday condemned a member of the board of directors of the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS), Pablo Micallef, for being the one behind the censorship of PN MP Ryan Callus, by cutting him out of a photo, replacing him with a random man.

Buttigieg and Piccinino spoke at a press conference where they said that it is "absurd and unacceptable," that, according to a report on The Shift, in his other role as Communications Director at the Water Services Corporation (WSC), Micallef instructed his team to remove Callus from an image posted on the public entity's social media channels.

Buttigieg also said that Micallef's reaction after the backlash was also absurd, saying that "if he insulted Callus, then he apologised," adding that it has become a new trend to simply say "sorry."

Micallef's excuse was also that they did not want to include politicians in the promotional photos, yet Buttigieg said that the page was full of photos of the Minister, and so it should work both ways.

"PBS means it is the public's broadcaster, paid for by public taxes, as it is a public service," Buttigieg said, adding that the PN will continue pushing for PBS to serve its duty to the public.

Piccinino referred to the report, and said this was another confirmation that Prime Minister Robert Abela uses PBS as his and Labour's propaganda machine.

He spoke of the decision made by the Broadcasting Authority which found the government and PBS of breaking impartiality, continuing on its partisan agenda.

"No wonder this has become the norm, and no wonder PBS has been called SuperOne 2," Piccinino said.

He continued that the Labour party also rewards those who censor voices who do not agree with Abela.

Piccinino mentioned former PBS head of news Norma Saliba, who had been found guilty by the broadcasting authority 21 times of discrimination against the PN.

Moreover, a newsroom led by Saliba was found three times to have broken the PN's fundamental rights, and Abela decided to reward her, and "invented a new job for her," referring to her position in the Centre of Maltese Language.

Now, she has been chosen as the Labour Party's spokesperson, "as if she was not its spokesperson already when she was at PBS, being paid with taxpayer money," Piccinino said.

Piccinino and Buttigieg also spoke about the culture of impunity which Labour brought into the country, and Abela brought in the "problematic mentality" that saying "sorry" is enough.

Buttigieg said government is using PBS to manipulate the truth, which the citizen has the right to, and create a reality which is false.

The Labour Party issued a reply to the PN's press conference, however without making any reference to what was said, preferring to refer instead to the courts' rejection of the Nationalist Party's request to censor budget 2025 information spots from the national broadcaster.

"Budget 2025 announced the biggest tax cut in history. The first €1,000 in an employee's salary will be tax free, pensions shall increase further for the 10th consecutive time, and another substantial increase in Children's Allowance.  The PN didn't want the people to be informed about these Budget measures among others," the PL said.

And in yet another episode of follow-my-words-but-not-my actions, the Budget spots that Bernard Grech wanted to censor from the national broadcaster were aired against payment on his station, NET.