|
Karl Schembri
The Prime Minister hit out at political party journalists during a meeting with the Institute of Maltese Journalists last Thursday, saying they were “not doing their job well”.
Addressing Chairman Malcolm Naudi and other council members, the prime minister complained about journalists working for both parties.
The prime minister was reacting to the institute’s objection to a derogatory email message sent last month about journalist Charlot Zahra, in which the journalist’s questions about government’s economic advisors were shot down as propaganda.
Skirting the issue, Dr Gonzi criticised journalists working for the political media of both large parties, most of whom are also members of the institute. Journalists from both parties are represented on the institute’s council.
“We raised the issue (about the contentious email) with the prime minister,” Naudi told MaltaToday after the meeting. “Without commenting on it, he complained that several journalists from the party media were not doing their job well.”
Naudi said the institute’s representatives pointed out to Gonzi that Zahra did not work for the political media but for an independent newspaper.
“We told him the issue had nothing to do with partisan journalism,” Naudi said.
Also, Gonzi made his remarks about political reporters despite his own party’s massive media empire which employs journalists for the print, radio, television and internet media.
Meanwhile, the institute has still to meet Communications Coordinator, Alan Camilleri, before taking a stand against his e-mail attack on Zahra’s integrity.
Naudi said the institute prefers to “hear Camilleri’s side” before declaring itself even though more than a month has passed since the email was originally sent, and leaked, prompting Zahra to file a complaint with the institute.
In the terse message sent to the Independent editors, Camilleri expressed his outrage for “following up stories by a MaltaToday journalist to revel (naghmlu xalata) on The Independent on Sunday or the Business Weekly!!!”
Referring to Zahra, Camilleri wrote: “Look at the questions I’m getting from your journalists. Are they by any chance the future editors of Maltastar” – the Labour party news website that currently is looking for an editor.
The message was sent by Camilleri from his office e-mail address with his signature as the prime minister’s communicatios co-ordinator.
|
