I had no intention of putting pen to paper. I have other far more serious preoccupations to worry about. In life there comes a time when priorities change: the last thing on my mind was Michael Falzon.
But MLP deputy leader Michael Falzon’s decision to ask his acolyte and MLP candidate Dr Zammit Lewis to institute libel actions over a story that is no way libellous, has propelled me back to the centre of things, at least for the moment. Dr Zammit Lewis thinks that by winning or losing libels he can destroy our credibility. Thankfully, credibility does not depend on what the press laws allow or do not allow.
I have described Michael Falzon as the unimpressive one, a conservative politician who militates within the Labour party. He cannot digest this label or the role of a journalist or commentator.
I have used similar descriptions for other politicians. Many I know would like to send me as pulp to a paper mill factory, but they know that with the press, the best thing is to weather the storm.
Michael Falzon is either not in their league, or else from another world.
This is a man who believes that he should be a Cabinet minister if a Labour government is elected. Here is a man who is asking the electorate to trust him for his moderate and modern ways. Here is man who thinks that he has it all.
In my view, Falzon does not deserve to be elected. Labour insiders talk of a man who takes the advice of his close aides and followers too seriously and thinks that everyone wants to stab in the back.
I was literally in another world when I received a number of phone calls from top labour officials who warned me about Falzon’s libel intentions.
“Do not take it against Labour, this man is acting independently.”
I could believe them. They warn me, but then tell me they can do nothing to stop him.
“What will he do if he becomes a minister?” I asked.
“He will rise up to the occasion and become more mature,” was one stupid and silly answer.
To which I answered, “He will be worse: he will simply be intolerant to any form of criticism. It is scary.”
Dr Falzon – like Bertu Mizzi, John Rizzo and Dom Mintoff – cannot stand being taken to task by a free press. John Rizzo is a case in point, and more worrying because he is commissioner of police. They have a plethora of libel suits and they have many tools to fight the press, namely the press law engineered by yet another far from impressive politician: Tonio Borg. They believe they will shut us up. They had better think twice.
Michael Falzon thinks – and he has said this to many of his followers – that we and especially I are out to destroy him. I have heard this before from other politicians and I will not waste my time trying to convince them that this is not the case.
Politicians are most of the time their own worst enemy. The press is there to underline mistakes, not to make them.
I have nothing against Falzon personally but he is a deputy leader of a party that expects to administer this country for years to come and he should not expect kisses and hugs from a discerning press.
He should ask himself if has been treated any differently than other top officials in Labour, or better still whether any politicians from the PN side have not also been taken to the cleaners by our newspaper.
Unlike many other newspapers, our journalists do not make a living off the spin machine, Yes, sometimes we make mistakes and fall unwittingly into spin. But we never dine and drink or flirt with power and then sing their praises, like other editors who then paste their visage on adverts. I, for one, insist on keeping away from media events, lunches, suppers, invites and what not.
But on one point I agree with Dr Falzon. There are many who would like to destroy Falzon, and they are not found in the corridors of the spacious PN HQ, but right there in the milieu of the Labour HQ. If they have not been up to mischief recently, it is only because they are eyeing the downfall of the PN as a golden opportunity for themselves. Once it is over they will return to their vomiting sessions about Falzon.
I have no doubt that the MLP will repeat the same mistakes the PN has committed. Such as placing its own people in key positions and stamping out dissent with an iron fist.
Indeed Falzon should know that many stories that have been leaked to the Nationalist press by Labour insiders about himself have indeed been, surprisingly, stopped by Nationalist top guns.
I know all about it, and if he wishes to know the details he can give me a ring and I can tell what I am talking about. Or is this libellous, too?
The PN’s thinking is that they should do nothing to weaken Michael Falzon because Falzon is the underdog in the Labour party and not perceived to be in Alfred Sant camp. And they want underdogs to appear as martyrs.
So there you are, your friends could turn out to be your enemies and your enemies, your friends. This Falzon knows this all too well. But I am neither a friend nor an enemy of Falzon. I am a journalist with no blinkers and with a revulsion for no entry signs.
Falzon takes umbrage that his compatriots bad mouth his assistant Nathalie Attard and spin scurrilous stories about her, but then with an assistant who had no problem lifting her middle finger to a cameramen, what do you expect?
Dr Falzon thinks – and he is correct – that many senior top MLP officials love to rubbish him. And it is very true. But the many libel suits that Dr Falzon has initiated against me and my colleagues at MaltaToday have nothing to do with the whispering campaign by top senior officials. Much of the whispering campaign against him is spiteful and ugly, and he may be very surprised to hear this, but we are not in the business of destroying people but of reporting and analysing events.
The libel cases Michael Falzon has started are about reports and commentaries related to his public outburst at the Rabat MLP party club some months ago, and only recently about his hunting trip to Rumania.
I will not go into the merits of these stories, but the recent Rumania incident is explained at length in the editorial on page 21.
But since the Labour party has decided to enter an election campaign and allowed its deputy leader to go ahead with these libel cases, there is a message that needs to be read loud and clear.
The message is that if a Labour government is elected, and Michael Falzon is made a senior Cabinet minister, I shudder to think what will happen to the free press.
Should one prefer the PN? No, who said that? But then, should we expect change with a Labour with Michael Falzon at the helm? The answer is NO.
Labour will not bring change, it will only bring a change of the guards. Is that what democracy is all about? No, it is not.
It is a pity the Nationalists continue to erode their credibility with silly mistakes and decisions, but this newspaper is not here to help either camp. And definitely not someone who wants to silence the press and turn it into his own lap-dog.
Presumptuous, but true: MaltaToday together with its sister newspapers Illum, MaltaToday Midweek and Business Today, are the only truly independent newspapers. We have investigated government for its bad policies and arrogance, for looking the other way when conflict of interest and corruption was prevalent. We have done the same to everyone, even to former colleagues.
In my 20 years of journalism I have lived under a Nationalist administration and dissected it for its errors and judgement more than most journalists. Michael Falzon ignores all this, and then very stupidly declares war.
Michael Falzon’s libel suits remind me of the time, some four years ago, when 14 members of the Nationalist administration, including Dr Gonzi and Dr Saliba, instituted libel actions against me. Paradoxically some weeks later one of Michael Falzon’s acolytes accused me of being a Nationalist pawn in front of a Labour conference. Thankfully MLP delegates are not that gullible.
Then one of Gonzi’s right hand men, asked all the ministries to stop advertising in MaltaToday. And that was four years ago. Not even they could destroy MaltaToday. MaltaToday grew and spawned out of that experience. Michael Falzon, thank you for your libel suits against us.
I have no doubt in my mind that if a Labour government is elected we will pass through the same kind of saga. This time round we are ready for a long battle. And right now we are before an election.
Michael Falzon does not belong to this era. He should have been a politician in 1955 when the press was tame and toothless. When people like Micallef Stafrace were sent to prison for publishing cartoons.
This is 2008 and in this decade the power of the press will grow, not diminish.
I, like him, believe that we should have a better government.
I, like him, want change. BUT NOT AT ALL COSTS.
Michael Falzon has hit a raw nerve. In my eyes he is a danger to the free press and more importantly, obsessed with giving the public his view of things and not the view of an objective and truthful press.
This is a declaration of war on MaltaToday and its sister newspapers and this has natural consequences.
The first consequence is that it has given me the energy to get back to my keyboard.
If Labour’s Falzon wants a fight, I’m waiting!

sbalzan@mediatoday.com.mt