The Institute of Maltese Journalists – effing unbelievable
Read their statement, released today: nothing about my treatment at the hands of the police, and instead, a diatribe about how Julia Farrugia of Illum (Saviour’s second rag) was ‘attacked’ – because I wrote a brief note about her attempt at building a false story about me by sniffing around the police.
“The institute believes that the Police has a role to play in situations like this and hopes that these articles will not only cease but will not be repeated.”
Incredible: like something out of the Soviet Union; the hare hunting with the hounds.
IGM regrets ‘personal attacks on journalists’
09 February 2010 11:20
The Institute of Maltese Journalism (IGM) regrets to note that in recent days several articles have appeared in the print and electronic media that could have created a negative climate and a feeling of injustice among those affected.
The Institute believes that this is not serious journalism since it attacks in a personal and unjust way individuals both in their public and private lives. This applies both to similar stories that have appeared in the past, as well as those that appeared recently.
Among the victims of these unjust attacks were a number of journalists, including the Deputy Chairman of the Institute, Julia Farrugia. The Institute wishes to show its solidarity with all those who felt hurt by these articles.
The IGM appeals with the utmost earnestness to all journalists, contributors and those who write in the media to observe the rules of ethics and to be professional in their work.
The Institute believes that the Police has a role to play in situations like this and hopes that these articles will not only cease but will not be repeated.
Oh, but look at this:
Kunsill gdid
Fl-istess laqgha gie elett Kunsill gdid ghas-sena 2010. L-ufficjali Malcolm J. Naudi (chairman), Joe A. Vella (Segretarju) u Mario Schiavone (Tezorier) ma gewx kontestati. Madankollu se jkun hemm wicc gdid fil-Kunsill, Carmel Camenzuli, li se jkun fost il-membri eletti. Il-membri l-ohra eletti huma: Julia Farrugia, Charlot Zahra u Charles Flores. Keith Demicoli gie mahtur fuq il-Kunsill bhala rapprezentant tal-Ghaqda taz-Zghazagh.
30 Comments Comment
Leave a Comment
We should all write a letter of protest to IGM and in solidarity with Daphne.
Keep up your good work, Daphne.
I bet it was written by Julia Farrugia herself.
Marie Benoit had a post all to herself. If it wasn’t Julia Farrugia who wrote this, then are we to conclude that the IGM doesn’t think Marie Benoit is worthy of the august institute’s defence?
I thought ‘Police’ is spelt with a small ‘p’.
A holder of public office forfeits some of his/her privacy once he/she occupies that office. The public has a right to know who is serving them.
Therefore Daphne, as a journalist has a right or rather duty to expose such behaviour.
‘the Police has’? How about the ‘police have’. The Institute of Maltese Journalists? Should stick to Maltese. Amateur twits.
“The Police has a role to play in situations like this”
Maybe the IGM’s role should be spelled out for the benefit of its members:
The IGM is not there to kiss the wounded feelings of individual journalists but to protect the profession itself from intrusion by forces such as, well, the police and the magistrates who boss them about.
From: http://www.maltapressclub.org.mt/pressreleases.html
19 ta’ Jannar 2010
L-IGM issejjah ghal aggornament tal-ligijiet li jolqtu l-liberta’ tal-espressjoni
* Il-Konferenza Generali Annwali tal-Istitut tal-Gurnalisti Maltin li tlaqqghet nhar it-Tnejn 18 ta’ Jannar, ghamlet sejha ghal aggornament shih tal-ligijiet tal-pajjiz li, b’xi mod jew iehor, jolqtu l-liberta’ tal-espressjoni u biex dawn ikunu jirriflettu r-realtajiet li qed nghixu llum kif ukoll biex ikunu konformi mal-ligijiet tal-Unjoni Ewropea.
Bis-sahha ta’ dan l-aggornament tal-ligijiet ma tibqax il-htiega li jittiehdu proceduri kriminali li sahansitra jistghu jwasslu li persuna tintbaghat il-habs.
IGM, kindly reconsider your statement today with reference to freedom of speech.
Inthom tidru quddiem in-nies TA’ IGM. ISTHU.
Ajma, what do you expect with Julia Farrugia as deputy? Most probably she sulked and sulked and sulked until IGM released this statement.
Hi Daphne. Jien xbajt b’dal-gvern. U int ?
The speed with which IGM reacts is astounding, except when people who are not members of their council are involved.
Ma tafx li dak it-taparsi kunsill huwa mmexxi minn Laburisti nkallati?
http://www.illum.com.mt/2008/09/14/t4.html
Aħbarijiet | 14 ta’ Settembru 2008 Nr 98
Din il-ġimgħa l-iskrutinju fuq il-Maġistrat Scerri Herrera
Julia Farrugia
[email protected]
Here we are back to square one after almost thirty years of PN rule, EU membership and all. Hbieb tal-hbieb tal-hbieb. We are, as a nation, a parish; we will always be a parish. Il-kazin ta’ fuq u il- kazin ta’ isfel . Our democracy, with the demise of real journalism, if we ever had any, now hangs on the tenuous thread of internet neutrality. The police, with the blessing of the powers that be, have this thread in their cross-hairs. Heaven help us all come 2013.
Xi tghidu nibdew orange revolution, eh guys? Jien ukoll qabzitli biz-sleaze u inkompetenza u issa dil-mewga ta’ konservatizmu religjuz.
Sedition? Huh?
Nahseb l-IGM kien ikun aktar kredibli li kieku ikwota s-siltiet li hass li kienu offensivi, u il barra min dak li tippermetti l-ligi.
Fil-fatt lanqas lil Daphne ma semmew b’isimha, izda l-IGM innota b’dispjacir kbir, li f’dawn il-jiem gew ippublikati artikli li “jistghu” jikrejaw klima negattiva u dwejjaq kbar lil dawk affetwati. Peress li l-istqarrija taghhom giet ippublikata f’dawn il-jiem, ma nafx jekk humiex qed jghidu ghalijhom ukoll. L-IGM jemmen li dan mhux gurnalizmu serju ghax jattakka b’mod ingust u personali, persuni, kemm fil-hajja pubblika taghhom u kemm f’dik privata.
Izda, kif nifhem jien, it-twegiba qeda fl-istqarrija taghhom stess, ghax jekk se tattakka l-persuna, ma tghamilx differenza jekk hux fil-hajja pubblika jew personali, ghax il-persuna tibqa persuna dejjem.
Huma l-azzjonijiet tal-persuna, li wiehed jista jattakka kemm fil-hajja pubblika u kemm f’dik personali, ghax huma l-azzjonijiet li jistaw ikunu differenti fil-pubbliku u fil-privat, u mhux il-persuna li tibqa shieha dejjem.
I, too, noticed the “Police has”. The rule about capitalizing is that only Proper Nouns are capitalized. Which means that only “certain, places or things” have capital letters. (“Proper Nouns” is capitalized because it is the title of something.)
About the “has” – it should have been “have”. “Police” in this instance = “they” – therefore, it should have been “have”.
If the article had been referring to “a policeman” (singular), then it would have been correct to use “has”. (I love this stuff. I was an English major at university.)
You can’t expect much better from someone with talons.
(I was referring to the IGM statement.)
To recap – Malta is morphing into a tin-pot totalitarian state with lashings of ecclesiastical trim to round things off nicely (and keep traditionalists, i.e. Maltese people, suitably entertained), while the media turn schizo and indulge in solipsistic shadow-boxing.
The censorship of Nadur carnival songs, and the promised Million Messiah March (well, maybe a dozen men in beards and sandals) pale in comparison.
I miss the halcyon days of university porno prohibitions.
They should call it the People’s Institute of Maltese Journalists. Ja qabda pufti (with no offence to genuine gays).
Ghaliex Lou Bondi u Joe Azzopardi ma ikkumentaw xejn fuq dawn l-hnizrijiet….jien nistenna programm shih fuq li ghamlu lilek Daphne……basta jaghmlu programmi vojta fuq il-valuri taz-zghazagh u l-ozone layer. Lilek qeghdin jiccensurawk…..jekk xi darba jiddeciedu li ghandhom jistiednuk ghal xi programm minn taghhom accetta u aqla kull ma taf fuq it-TV.
@Cecile
The ‘police’ is a collective noun and generally, when a collective noun is used in the singular (as one entity in this case), the verb can be either singular or plural, e.g. the company has or the company have. However ‘police’ has no singular form, in fact we never say the police (not policeman) is here, but we say the police are here!
@ IGM
Were there any untruths or lies in the articles you found objection to? If not, why are you so keen that they stop?
The private/public connection has been superbly explained. So what is the problem now?
The problem is that someone felt so offended that her own feelings eclipsed
1) another episode in a story she once considered newsworthy
2) the value of free speech in bringing wrong doing to light.
I am sure that at IGM they don’t read Malta Today regularly.
I can’t understand why many here are afraid of 2013! Some make it look that in 2013 we are going to witness the end of 25 years of sheer democracy. This can’t be, because the PN has been appointing members of the judiciary for the past 22 years and recruiting/promoting police officers since 1987, not to mention the appointment of many other important posts within the civil service. All these will remain there after 2013 to safeguard our democracy! So why worry dear PN adherents! Since this shitty situation in Malta is happening during a PN administration, why don’t you be realistic and blame PN instead of dreading 2013?
[Daphne – Magistrate Herrera was appointed by Alfred Sant’s brief government. Her brother is in the running with former police inspector Anglu Farrugia to become minister of justice in 2013. It is a near certainty that Magistrate Herrera will then be the second Judge Herrera.]
Daphne, since many seem very pleased to hear about the private lives of public figures, why don’t you entertain us about the private life of the blue eyed boy who is soon jumping on the gravy train!
[Daphne – Harry? Does he have one?]
No I was not referring to Harry. Lately I was sitting in a cafe’ at Sliema and I heard three groomed ladies, probably suffering from mid-life crisis, talking about an adulterous affair of a blue-eyed boy. They were oblivious to the fact that I was hearing their conversation.
[Daphne – I would ignore them. Sliema is packed with useless bitches who have no life outside Facebook, and whose great and apparently sole pleasure is dissecting the (largely imaginary) trials and tribulations of others. I give them a wide berth. Most of them haven’t been educated past the age of 15 and have had their intellectual development arrested at around that age. You only have to pop into Facebook to see what I mean – there they are, conducting their spiteful conversations as though they are sitting at the bar at the Marsa Club and no one else is listening. Too damned stupid to work out that they have a potential (and sometimes actual) audience of several hundreds, many of whom are eager to copy and paste what is ‘said’ and to email it on to the subjects of their discussion. Headless chickens, the lot of them. Perhaps they should work out what their husbands are up to: in at least three cases I know of, shagging some available spinster on their desks. Life in Malta: it’s f**king desperate, literally.]
You’re a great journalist Daphne, have no doubt about that, and I’m sure that if you receive any information on this ‘blue eyed boy’, who is actually going to get paid from our taxes, you will let us know. Needless to say that such news will create a lot of panic within some political circles!! I agree with you about the headless chickens, but when names and games are mentioned, …. il-qasba ma ccaqcaqx ghalxejn! But it’s better to let sleeping dogs lie at this stage, and ignore the bitches. However, its good to have some information on people sometimes.
[Daphne – No, Joe, with those women you mentioned there is often smoke without fire. Believe me, I know. They are the perfect illustration of the adage that the devil finds work for idle hands. The combination of a low IQ, no education, no exposure to anything outside their immediate circle and nothing to do is a lethal one. They are actually frightening, and they are at their worst when they imagine that a man fancies them and immediately they are having an affair with him in their head. Total waste of space – bunny-boilers, the lot of them. They’re one reason why I have always preferred the company of men, which only gives them something else to gossip about, given that being friends with a man is beyond their comprehension and the only male-female communication style they know and understand is the sort of flirtation one might have engaged in at a sixth-form disco.]