I fully agree with Evarist Saliba’s letter (‘Illegal immigrant crisis’, MaltaToday, 26 October) where he protests at the unbelievable bias shown by your journalist Matthew Vella in his interview of Mgr Philip Calleja in MaltaToday the previous Sunday. This serious lapse in journalistic ethics has become systematic in all Matthew Vella’s interviews relating to illegal immigration.
On 14 January 2007 you published his interview of Prof. Henry Frendo, chairman of the Refugee Appeals Board. The interviewer did not just challenge the interviewee. He put himself at the centre of the interview and interjected phrases like: “I struggle to understand his reasoning”; “what comes across as a paranoid bias” and “Frendo seems to be concerned”. Professor Frendo was obliged to correct inaccuracies in a subsequent letter to MaltaToday.
On 8 June 2008 Matthew Vella interviewed Refugee Commissioner Mario Friggieri who, again, had to send a correction a week later. He wrote: “my interview was not reported in its entirety … excerpts from my interview are juxtaposed to comments and remarks made by the interviewing journalist …” This was in contrast to a rather fawning interview by the same journalist of Minister Carmelo Mifsud Bonnici (MaltaToday, 15 June 2008) who, it was said, “brings with him a breath of fresh air” and “remains calm but at the same time showing he is very much on ball”.
Your newspaper’s bias on the subject of illegal immigration is well-known, as is that of individual journalists. But the least an interviewee expects from a newspaper is the courtesy of fair reporting. After all, the journalist is not (at least, should not be) the centrepiece of the interview.

Louise Vella
Mosta

Editorial note: The journalist who interviewed Carm Mifsud Bonnici was Karl Schembri, not Matthew Vella.

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