The party media newsrooms are now beyond just silly
My opinion piece in this newspaper four weeks ago was practically a comment on Joseph Muscat’s decision to remove the post of secretary-general from the Labour Party statute – an idea that I felt was short-sighted. Immediately, the Nationalist media quoted parts of my article in its news bulletin, hailing me as a ‘foremost opinion maker’ (opinjonista ewlieni) almost giving my piece the value of scripture.
Last week I was interviewed by a journalist from Illum about what I think is currently wrong with the PN and the difficulties the present administration is facing. Immediately, the Labour media quoted selective parts of my article, hailing me as a former Nationalist minister who was out to get at the Prime Minister.
In the meantime, the PN media had sent a cameraman and a journalist to approach delegates going into the Labour HQ for their party’s general conference and ask them whether they agreed with the removal of the post of secretary-general. I need not repeat the inane replies this question elicited until someone from the party was sent to suggest all those who were being asked the question to say ‘no comment’ and keep going straight into the guarded glasshouse. The PN media broadcast these ‘encounters’ and accused Labour of censorship and muzzling its own delegates.
Not to be outdone, the next Sunday the Labour media sent a cameraman and a journalist to approach people going into the Naxxar Nationalist Club for a conference that was to be addressed by the Prime Minister and ask them whether they approved of the way the present administration is acting. Again, I need not repeat the stupid replies this question elicited until someone from the party was sent to suggest all those who were being asked the question to say ‘no comment’ and keep going straight into the club. It was now the Labour media’s chance to broadcast these ‘encounters’ and accuse the PN of censorship and muzzling its own supporters.
The type of amateurish journalism that the party media are abetting is, of course, beyond just silly and can hardly be taken seriously by anyone. However, in spite of these ridiculous antics, there are a large number of people out there who keep on following the news bulletins of the broadcasting stations of both political parties.
My sudden prominence in one news bulletin and then in another provoked many people I met to comment favourably or negatively on what I had written or reported to have said in the published interview. What bugs me, of course, is that after one or two exchanges with these people volunteering their opinion on my opinion, it was obvious that they had not read what was published but only heard about it via the news bulletins.
Reading a longish article or interview is too much trouble – let alone actually buying the newspaper – and the easy way out is to hear what was written from what is reported on the evening television news.
The point here is that despite the obvious fact that the news bulletins of the broadcasting stations owned by the political parties are frequently beyond being silly; there are still many who are even sillier by relying on them for their news.
What is even worse, at least in my case, is that many people think that I have some hidden agenda with ulterior motives behind my contributions to the press. My days in the political arena are well and truly over and I try to comment on the situations that arise form time to time in an objective way as far as possible. My political beliefs are no secret and my position in the political spectrum has not changed.
Yet just because I am not one of the what-we-do-is-right-and-what-they-do-is-wrong brigades, I manage to keep surprising people who apparently expect me to conform to the well established taking up of positions to the extent that I should not see anything negative in one side or anything positive in the other.
This kind of situation raises the question on whether political parties should own broadcasting stations. The reason why we have arrived here in broadcasting cannot, of course, be disregarded. In days gone by, the national broadcasting station enjoyed a monopoly that was continually abused of by successive Labour governments. The liberalisation of broadcasting and subsequent setting up of the ‘political’ radio and television stations was a reaction to that abuse.
Since then, attempts at having a national broadcasting station that is both independent and objective have failed to persuade everyone that these attempts were genuine. We do not seem to be able to grow up. Expecting the national broadcasting station to be permanently infallible, balanced and objective while its own efforts at broadcasting are absolutely miserable has become a Labour Party mantra. The latest suggestion is that the Public Broadcasting System should be the responsibility of a Parliamentary Committee where the Opposition is represented adequately. At first glance, this suggestion makes sense, but I wonder how long it will take before public broadcasting would once again become a political football, in spite of all the good intentions behind the setting up of a bipartisan set-up.
Before we try to fix the situation in public broadcasting, it would perhaps make more sense for the two political parties to attempt to do something that is easier to attain: reform the way their broadcasting stations use and spin news to help in their eternal quest for political support rather than to inform their listeners of what is happening in this tiny island. In other words, these stations should stop acting beyond just silly.
Muscat insists that the party he leads is in the process of evolving into a national movement and his moves to do away with the vestiges of ‘old Labour’ are tangible as far as the administrative structure of the party is concerned. Yet anyone who follows the news bulletins on ‘One’ radio or television can hardly discern any difference in the Labour media’s stances that continually contradict the image of Labour that Joseph Muscat is trying to sell. It does seem that the broadcasting crew at Marsa cannot get out of their rut by thinking on the new lines that their own leader is continually touting from Hamrun.
The Nationalist Party’s media also need a shaking up and stop trying to be clever by half.
If the broadcasting stations of both parties – that seem to be here to stay – make a genuine effort at treating their listeners and viewers as mature adults and give truth precedence over unconfirmed rumours, hype and spin, a public-owned station under bipartisan control will not be the impossible dream that it is today.
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