Saviour Balzan can't stand the heat

Published: July 13, 2009 at 3:17pm
Savonarola Balzan thinks that he can investigate everyone while no one is allowed to investigate him

Savonarola Balzan thinks that he can investigate everyone while no one is allowed to investigate him

The editor of Malta Today, who prides himself on investigating everyone as long as they are not John Dalli, Joseph Muscat (the enemy of my enemy is my friend), or Robert Musumeci who writes a column for him, has gone ballistic because The Sunday Times has investigated him.

The Sunday Times revealed a couple of weeks ago that for his unexceptional 10-minute show before the evening news on TVM, Saviour Balzan is paid EUR88,000 a year by Public Broadcasting Services.

Now the man who likes us to think of him as the King of Investigators and the Scourge of Corrupt Wrong-Doers – a Savonarola for our times – has demonstrated that he can’t stand to be on the receiving end.

He has gotten his lawyer – Labour Party deputy leader Toni Abela, last seen on this website investigating the contents of a well-endowed puppet’s sweater – to write to the PBS chairman objecting on Saviour’s behalf, and suggesting that the information about his fees was leaked, and what’s more, in breach of the Data Protection Act.

Excuse me while I roll around and shriek with laughter.

Saviour Balzan, objecting to a leak when that’s the supposed stock-in-trade of his shoddy, axe-grinding newspaper? I am lost for words.

Well, no, actually I’m not. I think the man is quite ridiculous, and he must have chosen Toni Abela to heighten the comedic effect.

The PBS chairman responded that the information revealed by The Sunday Times was in the public’s interest to know, and there is no breach of the Data Protection Act.

So let me see if I’ve got this right: Saviour Balzan polices the islands trying to find out everything about everyone he doesn’t like, but then expects PBS – a state corporation funded by the taxpayer – to keep his own fees Top Secret as a favour to him, because – you know – he’s Saviour Balzan.

The supreme irony is that Saviour Balzan himself published, three years ago, a story which quoted a confidential PBS report detailing the cost of programmes produced by the company Where’s Everybody (did I mention that Saviour really hates Lou Bondi and Joe Azzopardi as well?).

When Where’s Everybody’s directors put their side of the story in a letter to Malta Today, Saviour Balzan ran his opinion alongside it: “Malta Today’s report is in the public interest and in accordance with true investigative journalism on everything…The origin of these funds are (sic) from taxpayers’ money.”

‘Journalism on everything’ – that’s a literal translation of Where’s Everybody’s strap-line, Gurnalizmu fuq kollox, which translates correctly as ‘Journalism above all’.

I think Saviour and Toni really need to be told to b***er off. It’s no longer against the law. But then perhaps Toni is more interested in ‘hot’ rubber puppets and what they’ve got beneath their tops. If Saviour puts on a rubber suit and some falsies, he might see some action, even if it’s only from Toni Abela.

And don’t worry, Saviour, we won’t ask how much you charge.




17 Comments Comment

  1. Daphne Caruana Galizia says:

    Toni Abela gets off with his rubber lady:

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O4xxAMer_V8

  2. Dido says:

    As of yesterday I have stopped buying Malta Today, I’ve come to realise that Mr Balzan is just a spiteful person who uses his position to settle his own and in many cases third-party scores. He presents himself as the bulwark of anti-corruption, however his writings have a strong slant towards addressing the hidden and at times obvious agendas of a close group of people he is comfortable with. Besides that, his style is very predictable and uninspiring. His 10-minute TV slots are boring and his line of questioning is appalling. Saviour Balzan is fast approaching his ‘sell-by’ date.

  3. David Buttigieg says:

    Maybe Balzan would do better to highlight the INCREDIBLE comments under this story, and perhaps donate some of that EUR88,000!

    http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20090713/local/migrants-living-in-absolute-poverty-ngo

  4. Leo Said says:

    Malta Today = Miskina Malta

    Well, investigative and revealing journalism does have boomerang effect and boomerang impact.

  5. richard muscat says:

    Jghidu li l-ispizjar milli jkollu jaghtik…

  6. jenny says:

    Saviour Balzan’s TV slot is a waste of time and money.

    [Daphne – And he’s so unattractive! It’s not as though you can turn off the sound and look at the picture.]

  7. J Busuttil says:

    The investigator is investigated and his face turns red. Miskin Salvu.

  8. Leonard says:

    On a somewhat higher level; while God said “Go forth and multiply”, KMB said, “Stay where you are and multiply.”
    http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20090713/local/immigration-kmb-says-europe-should-boost-its-birth-rate

    • Corinne Vella says:

      You just have to ask: what has *he* contributed to achieving this particular goal?

      • il-Ginger says:

        I think the Maltese gene pool is messed up enough.

      • Leonard says:

        That’s the way it goes, Corinne. I’ve moved around a bit and irrespective of nationality (not gender – they’re always men), the biggest moaners were those who produced the least. Or, those who produced the least were the biggest moaners. Makes sense too.

  9. Jeremy J Camilleri says:

    Incredible….

    It’s like a game of football between kids: Balzan is on the losing side, he grabs the ball and rushes off…ghax il-ballun tieghi.

  10. Jeremy J Camilleri says:

    Seriously….In games, when we play by the rules, we are subject to the same rules. It would have been best had he just lain low….but no, he had to come out all guns blazing!

  11. He’s being paid that money for some other reason. I bet my bottom euro that hardly anyone watches his programme. I was also scandalised that BondiPlus gets that money when it has enough income from adverts.

    If a programme is good it will get enough financing from adverts. I’d rather watch Becky which is filmed with one camera.

  12. Peter Cassar says:

    Daphne, I really like Savonarola thing; it is a great comparison. Minn fejn gibtha? Kif ftakart fih?

    [Daphne – I’m a nerd. I know these things.]

  13. Anna says:

    Saviour still has to learn that what goes around, comes around.

  14. david says:

    insomma , I say it in Maltese, Kristu qallhom min maghdhux dnub jitfa l-ewwel gebla, u kollha telqu.Imma Balzan gabar il-gebla, gara u gietu lura.

Leave a Comment