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| NEWS | Sunday, 11 May 2008 Anatomy of a controlled press conference Raphael Vassallo He came. He spoke. And he was whisked away before anyone outside the chosen few could ask a single question.
Last Thursday’s event at Castile Palace in Valletta turned out to be a case study in how to stage-manage a press conference without actually conferring with the press. Those who watched the sugary PBS feature at 8pm on Thursday, or read the coverage on the papers the following day, might be forgiven for thinking that the entire purpose of this week’s visit to Malta by French Prime Minister Francois Fillon was to admire the view from the Upper Barrakka gardens. And yet, he himself articulated his own concerns rather clearly during his brief address to the media. Among other issues, Fillon explained that he was also here to discuss the curious incident of a Maltese registered cargo ship that allegedly collided with a French fishing vessel in 2006, killing 15 passengers in the process. It seems the families of the victims are now demanding justice, and the government of France is taking the matter seriously… seriously enough for its Prime Minister to bring it up, unprompted, before the Maltese press. Did any of this make it into the media reports? No. Instead we were given the time-honoured, meaningless platitudes: e.g., that the two prime ministers “discussed ways to strengthen bilateral relations”. Of course it is also understandable that the Maltese government would be reluctant to cast a spotlight on the messy business. For France assumes the presidency of the European Union in July, and French co-operation is therefore paramount for the success of Malta’s “burden sharing” proposal on the thorny issue of immigration. Placed in this context, Fillon’s mention of the “Sichem Pandora” case gives us a vague indication of the way negotiations are proceeding behind the scenes. But these and other matters are evidently deemed too lofty and incomprehensible for the typical Maltese news consumer… so the Department of Information took it upon itself to simplify matters, by omitting any real substance from its own official releases, and seeing to it that none but the most compliant of local media got to ask any questions afterwards. Another issue which spectacularly failed to make it onto the national agenda for discussion was France’s questionable relations with Libya: a country that has just this week severed ties with our closest neighbour and ally, Italy. In July 2007, French President Nicolas Sarkozy signed a controversial deal to supply oil-rich Libya with nuclear technology “for peaceful purposes”. Controversial, that is, in every Mediterranean country except Malta… a country which could conceivably be wiped out altogether with a single nuclear accident of the Chernobyl variety, but whose government seems entirely unconcerned with its maverick neighbour’s nuclear ambitions. This was in fact the main purpose of my attending Thursday’s press conference. I wanted to ask Mr Fillon if France’s nuclear deal with Libya was among the topics “of mutual interest” discussed with Dr Gonzi. I also wanted to know whether his government had been given any reassurances by Colonel Gaddafi that this technology would indeed be used only for “peaceful purposes”; and more significantly, whether he could guarantee that the proposed nuclear reactor would pose no health risk to the people of Malta and Gozo. But I hadn’t reckoned on the DOI. Conducting media proceedings was supposed to be newly appointed OPM press secretary Gordon Pisani; but in reality, the man with the plan was senior information officer Noel Borg, who, under the watchful gaze of a certain Mr Richard Cachia Caruana, made damn sure that only two, privileged journalists got to ask any questions. These belonged to PBS (the national State broadcaster) and The Times: an independent and totally unbiased newspaper, which just happened to back the Nationalist Party to the hilt before the March 8 elections. When I repeatedly signalled my intention to ask a question of my own, Mr Borg gave me an unmistakable hand gesture that could only be interpreted as a clear and emphatic “NO”, before handing the microphone to the chosen journalist. And yet, when asked afterwards what criteria he used to select the privileged few, Borg denied having refused anyone the opportunity to ask a question. “I would like to point out that there is not preferential treatment involved as to who, from the local media, should ask questions or not during Press Conferences,” he claimed. And of course he is right. It is by coincidence alone that this privilege always happens to fall to the same old government-friendly media. But perhaps the most telling irony came courtesy of a French journalist, who asked our prime minister how he dealt with media criticism. “My experience,” Dr Gonzi genially replied, “has been that I have benefited from criticism by the media.” Really? Then… why go to such lengths to avoid any? Any comments? |
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Managing editor Saviour Balzan | Tel. ++356 21382741 | Fax: ++356 21385075 | Email
Managing editor Saviour Balzan | Tel. ++356 21382741 | Fax: ++356 21385075 | Email