The outgoing chairman of the state broadcaster's editorial board, John Camilleri, has accused the PBS directors of overruling his board's decision to appease personalities.

"I'm starting to feel that in Malta there are certain programmes classified as no-go areas - don't you dare touch them or your head will roll. That's what I feel has happened," he told The Times.

"I'm not there to nod my head and say yes sir... I have my own political beliefs but I don't confuse matters," he insisted.

Speaking just days after stepping down from the helm of the editorial board, Mr Camilleri feels the storm erupted when a handful of programmes, among them Bondi Plus and L-Ispjun, were left out of the new winter schedule.

As a policy, Mr Camilleri feels he shouldn't get into the matter of dropping names, but these programmes' titles had already been bandied about in the media. He feels that, as a consequence, the board of directors and Investments Minister Austin Gatt were now beating about the bush.

"They are coming up with feeble excuses to justify the inclusion of a handful of programmes in the schedule, which the editorial board had not included in its short-list," he said. Earlier on, the editorial board had listed its objections to the schedule.

"Nobody has ever asked us why some programmes were left out. I won't get into this in the media but we had very valid reasons why certain programmes were not short-listed.

"For example, a proposal for a particular programme had never reached us. I learnt that this was first intended to be a half-hour information programme but then it changed its physiognomy completely to a two-and-a-half hour programme of entertainment," he said, wondering out aloud over who was being appeased.

"The directors' strategy was so clear that they would ignore our recommendations that they didn't even have the decency to ask why," he said.

Mr Camilleri is irked at the fact that instead of recognising that the editorial board was doing its job well, Dr Gatt was accusing it of wanting to have the last word.

"Austin Gatt said (earlier this week) that he sets the policy and I couldn't agree with him more. However, in my opinion, the editorial board adhered to that policy. Now, just because the board of directors disagreed with it, somebody is suddenly saying that what is black is white," he said.

"I consider Austin Gatt to be a minister who has achieved success. However, he has the tendency to drown in shallow water. In my opinion, tolerance is not his strongest virtue, though he is known for his straight talking and I've got a similar trait," he said.

The crux of the argument revolves around the interpretation of the Public Broadcasting Services' Public Statement of Intent, in particular the sentence which specifies that the board of directors will make the final decision on the programmes schedule "in conjunction with the editorial board". "What does 'in conjunction with' mean? Does it mean that the board of directors decides on its own without consultation," Mr Camilleri asked.

Turning the situation on its head to stress his point, Mr Camilleri wondered out aloud if, hypothetically, the board of directors chose to include a programme by Labour MP Helena Dalli in the schedule which the editorial board never included in its short-list.

"In such a situation, the minister would have probably turned to us and asked why we were merely warming our chair. He would have said: 'I gave you the tools so that, in conjunction with the board of directors, you decide what to choose and you did nothing'," he said.

According to the minister the editorial board's primary role is to ensure there is no political interference in the news. Does Mr Camilleri take this to mean that such interference is permissible in programming?

"I feel the minister made a mistake in the letter he sent me when he spoke about the success we achieved in the news section. But then he added that in programmes we don't have such a say and our role is just a consultative one," he replied.

The night before the interview, Mr Camilleri went over the national broadcasting policy for the umpteenth time, looking for a sentence where the word "consultation" was mentioned - he said he found no such reference anywhere.

On the contrary, this policy was littered with extracts that strengthened the role of the editorial board. Among them is a paragraph that states: "... the editorial board is not just a figurehead kind of board. It complements the board of directors by providing an institutional platform to the programming/cultural/symbolic soul of the institution. In this area it should have both responsibility and authority".

He said he did come across a number of grey areas in the policy, which he felt pitted one board against the other. When he mentioned this to Dr Gatt in January, the minister's reply was: "I know". This was the time when Mr Camilleri was planning to step down because he had too much work on his plate but Dr Gatt had asked him to stay on.

"When I chose to take on this job I did so in the knowledge that I have to safeguard the national interest because the state broadcaster should not be an instrument in the politicians' hands and should remain independent," he said, stressing that Dr Gatt had never interfered.

While respecting the decision of the two other board members - Dominic Fenech and Mary Anne Lauri - to stay on, he feels there's no longer scope for an editorial board.

"What has happened is blatant interference in the broadcasting system that goes against the policy established by the government," he said.

Mr Camilleri stepped down the same day he received the final copy of TVM's winter schedule, which confirmed the slots for Bondi Plus and L-Ispjun, among others.

"My principles are not for sale."