Maltese friend: Angry scenes in both Blighty and its ex-colony this week...
English friend: Political turmoil makes it interesting. And what is happening in Malta?
MF: Long, tedious, pathetic story...but very revealing. The book I’m reading at the moment removes any illusion that politics is anything other than a war played out according to different rules.
EF: A war played according to the same human emotions as all others then?
MF: Yes exactly, and when you see how things degenerate fast when folks feel really threatened in their positions of power, you’re not too taken aback by the reaction and subterfuge. What I’ve become really interested in now is how certain media (freedom of expression gods and gurus of democracy) play the game and fuel the flames when it suits them. Perhaps we focus on the parties themselves too much and too little on the media feeding off them and nourishing them.
EF: Very true – political horse-trading and one-upmanship. One minute claiming the moral high ground, the next scrabbling in the mud and then back up on the high ground again. The media is a nest of hornets – so clear from the behaviour of the press in our election drama. They fanned the flames, speculated and totally discredited themselves. MF: It’s interesting but it can make me sick. Which is why I think philosophy is important. It tends towards a search for the truth not immediate gain or prestige or influence.
EF: Although I honestly think you love the drama!
MF: You’re right, it interests me. But the depths to which people are prepared to go sicken me. In some ways I’m more shocked by the spin-merchants than the bosses who employ them. It’s amazing how a set of known facts, like this parliamentary debacle we had in Malta, are spun in diametrically opposed ways by the media folk on either side of the fence. It’s so ridiculous that you can predict what they’ll say. The worst kind of propaganda masquerading as journalism. And people keep on tuning in when they should just call their bluff.
EF: Very true – I had a press overdose these last few days and it got so dirty that it felt poisonous. They called Clegg a traitor, a harlot... his crime? Taking part in this game we call democracy and daring to upset the status quo.
MF: Yep, common pattern in Malta with the Green Party. People were accused of being dangerous and hate figures for daring to argue in favour of voting for a small party. In the same sentence the people doing the accusing will lecture you on democracy and freedom of expression while the entrenched politicians will then ask for all-round respect. Respect on their terms. And what makes me sicker is that they will always frame it in terms of ‘the common good’, ‘the public interest’ and ‘the good of this nation’...I prefer a guy who
says ‘I’m doing this because I bloody want to!’
EF: I know! The Labour Party is already scrabbling for the high ground and simultaneously giving out sound-bites to the papers. No honesty!
MF: Yes, isn’t it perverse that one reads the press, watches the news and so on and feels as if you’ve injected yourself with poison? The alternative is to switch off and let them get on with it... as several of my friends do. But that falls short of a solution if you’re really interested in politics.
EF: I am going to have a media break after this election. But I don’t normally overdose by reading five different papers all day every day – so am feeling it particularly strongly. Might just go back to reading The Independent every now and then.
MF: Media overdrive by agenda-driven media is, for me, one of the dangers of our times. Little explored but pernicious. They have the power to shut people out from the political game, and therefore from democracy, by simply ignoring them or bullying them. I believe that this is the battleground that people who are interested in democracy should be focusing their energy on.
Readers may also be interested in the newly set-up Facebook group called ‘Sack Kay Burley’ which refers to the SKY News journalist and introduces itself thus: “On May 10th 2010, Kay Burley bullied a campaigner outside the Lib Dem’s meeting ‘in the name of journalism’. What followed was quite amazing...If you also take exception to SKY News’ Adam Boulton’s right wing bias then please join (link provided)...”
Time for some soul-searching by the media circus and hangers-on?
Any comments?
If you wish your comments to be published in our Letters pages please click button below. Please write a contact number and a postal address where you may be contacted.
Search:
MALTATODAY
BUSINESSTODAY
Download MaltaToday Sunday issue front page in pdf file format
