There are many moments in life when logic is no longer the basis for taking a decision and truth becomes a rare commodity.
Every election has its moments. And this one is no exception.
All sides, political parties, media organisations, journalists, commentators and activists are in fits of paranoia, believing that everyone is against them, for them and not with them. Karl Schembri is accused by a Super One commentator of being a PN stooge and Julia Farrugia is accused by PN bigwigs of being in cahoots with Labour. It is good to know that both journalists work for the same media organisation – mediatoday.
So cameramen say they are being threatened by other cameramen, journalists argue that the mere fact they are mentioned in a speech means that they are being attacked, politicians start to believe that everyone has a hidden agenda and party supporters confuse surprise or revulsion on people’s faces as provocation.
It is a circus.
Everyone is right and yet everyone is wrong.
There is this tribal atmosphere and it is all out war.
Sant puts it succinctly “min mhux kontra taghna, maghna.” Which means that everyone else are basically bully beef in his eyes. Sant is in good company, Gonzi probably thinks the same, though he is not that stupid to say it in public.
All the other political leaders and parties are unwilling to face the heat from media journalists and reporters cannot tolerate if they are in the line of fire.
I guess it is all about free speech.
If we want politicians to accept the fact that we as journalists can say what the heavens comes to our head than why should we be so sensitive if we are mentioned or criticised.
The limit I guess is when someone turns to a crowd and states in rather clear terms that for example Saviour Balzan should be deprived of his dignity and sent to the gulag.
That would be I guess a wee bit too harsh on me.
But if someone stood up and said that for example Saviour Balzan is a self-conceited journalist and a bastard with a hidden agenda, I should be man enough and live with this subjective comment. After all the kind adjectives I have in store for people I should not expect to be treated with kid's gloves.
This whole election has continued to prove how touchy and puerile many of the players in this image and media circus realare turning out to be.
If this is a democracy, there are no rules of what, when and how criticism should be bandied around.
No one should be aggrieved if they become the target of political or media attention.
Bizarre authority
Perhaps I remain one of the few individuals in the media who continue to believe in a role for the Broadcasting authority. Without the BA the political stations would mould the news to their great advantage. Yet, the latest decree by the BA that the newspaper commentators should stay away from commentary when analysing newspapers is not only ludicrous but infantile.
What we need are commentaries and comments from different individuals with diverse point of views. To address the problem of balance the BA applies a rule that that is simply entrenched in some Walt Disney view of political balance.
Such decisions continue to strengthen those who argue that the BA should be abolished or trimmed down.
In reality the BA needs to align itself with the new realities of the media.
Small note
Someone wrote in saying that we (this site) are censoring comments sent to this commentary. There is no censorship, unless someone chooses to use this media corner to simply regurgitate unwarranted bile at someone.
COMMENTS
02/25/08 4:57 AM, Gorg Schriha
The last 2 comments were incomprehensible to the very least and dumbright out of common sense to say it all. Please Mr. Demanuele, do all of us a favour and reframe your comment
02/21/08 3:12 PM, steve demanuele
sorry,i meant 2003 not 1992...
02/21/08 3:10 PM, steve demanuele
hi...you made some very good points here,Mr Balzan ....
Now,for the sake of the polls you are making,can you explain to me how you expect a survey to be balanced and fair,when,out of 100,you interviewed 45 people who said had voted PN,only 30 who said that they had voted MLP in 2003?No wonder then,that so much more PN voter said they will vote labour..How could it be that,if only 1 percent of former MLP voters said they would vote PN,and you have 9 or 10 percent former PN voters that said they where going to vote labour,then have only 1 percent difference between the two parties? Keeping in mind that in 1992 the PN had circa 4 percent more than labour,I would say that a more balanced survey would yield up to 4 to 5 percent advantage to Labour.....Correct me if I m wrong please..I have one suggestion for the next survey...Can we have the same amount of people survey,that either voted PN or MLP in the last elections? I think then, the poll would be more clear...Good night,and keep it up
02/21/08 2:49 PM, Joe Martinelli
I always regarded my ability to comment on a newspaper as a privilege which I am careful not to abuse. If the 'someone' mentioned above happens to be me, I never accused anyone of censoring my comments except that I find it quite odd that on more than one occasion, I saw my comments posted and after a few minutes they disappeared! No technical glitch, so someone must have removed my comments.
If the 'someone' mentioned above is not referring to me, then I sincerely apologize whilst I still wonder whether someone else has experienced the same problem.
I choose to write after someone else had brought up an issue, otherwise I would not have any reason to comment. As everyone knows, I have no privilege of starting a new thread - that is a reserved privilege of Mr. Balzan and I have no argument to make since I aknowledge that it is within his rights to control the contents of this paper.
When I raised this issue, I asked whether there are rules which readers are not aware of because if that is the case then they should be informed and I assure Mr. Balzan that I will be the first one to abide by them.
In the meantime, I join many others who defend the freedom of speech and expression without any reservations.
02/21/08 9:05 AM, Phillip Micallef
I've sent 3 comments to this site and I can assure you they were printed word for word. If anyone is accusing Maltatoday of censorship they are misinformed, or maybe it's sour grapes that this site is one of the only ones to allow completely free discussion. Jealosy will get you nowhere!
By the way Mr. Balzan it's not a circus but a jungle! Welcome to the jungle! Accusations and lawsuits are flying left right and centre. Politicians should realise that they are in the public eye and the people have a right, in fact a duty to criticise them if they disagree with their opinions -that is what a democracy is all about. Get used to it. We are no longer in the 70's or 80's where people who disagreed with government were silenced or threatened.
STOP TRYING TO SILENCE FREE SPEECH.
