Ah, but three years ago Saviour wasn't a Mintoffian
Just have a read of something Saviour Balzan wrote for Malta Today on 20 February 2008.
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 really are 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.
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News • 01 October 2006
illum, a new Sunday newspaper in Maltese
illum will be on the newsstands in November. The first privately owned newspaper in Maltese in years will be published by MediaToday, adding another newspaper to the MediaToday publishing house which also includes MaltaToday, Business Today and MaltaNow. Speaking to MaltaToday, b It would pride itself in carrying original stories with an emphasis on people and their concerns. He said that in a recent market research report commissioned by Mediatoday, 62% of respondents said they wanted an independent newspaper in Maltese. He added, “The unique selling point of the Maltese weekly, illum will be its independence and its distance from both political and big business interests. It promises to be a good read and breath of fresh air in the party and union dominated Maltese press.”
Amazing how these people all turn out to be little Mintoffs at heart.
That old man has a lot to answer for when, for 16 whole years, he conditioned the minds of so many people on these islands.
Among them now are Saviour Balzan and Ritianne Agius who want fellow journalists to be shut down.
What a sad and pitiful lot.
KID. GLOVES. Kid’s gloves belong on children.
Good point. Saviour may not know what the expression “to treat someone with kid gloves means”, so maybe he’d care to take a look at this:
“treat somebody with kid gloves also handle somebody with kid gloves
to deal with someone very gently or carefully While he treated writers with kid gloves, he was unpleasant to everyone else.
Etymology: based on the literal meaning of kid gloves (gloves made of very soft, smooth leather)” http://idioms.thefreedictionary.com/treat+with+kid+gloves
A classic case of “idiomatic English” gone horribly wrong
Joseph Lucas (timesofmalta.com 14022011) “The Police would do much better to read a certain woman’s blog and the very serious accusations and statements made therein regarding a political murder carried out many years ago, and investigate further, … than trying to act the moral police!”
This gentleman could not have said it better.
[Daphne – Funny, though, how difficult it is to mention my name.]
Maybe it’s because if your name was mentioned, the comment would not have been uploaded.
But isn’t your name banned on The Times?
[Daphne – Of course not. Why would it be?]
@P. Shaw
The Times is not controlled by Labour – as yet.
Saviour Balzan is a self-conceited journalist
Veru! Veru!
and a bastard
tridx tmur!
with a hidden agenda,
konvinti, konvinti!
I should be man enough and live with this subjective comment.
Din m’intix kapaci taghmilha. Ghandna l-provi!
After all the kind adjectives I have in store for people I should not expect to be treated with kid’s gloves.
Kid’s gloves? Jekk se tibqa’ tinzel fl-arena ma’ Daphne ghatti sewwa taht ic-cinturin, Salv.
Both you and Saviour have a lot of guts.
That is why both maltatoday and this blog have a lot of traffic.
Being controversial is good marketing.
“Saviour Balzan is a self-conceited journalist and a bastard with a hidden agenda ”
Spot on, Saviour !
Another fool hanged by his own noose.
Kemm int konsistenti Alla jbierek Saver. Anqas int tuba wkoll biex ma kontx taf min hi Julia Farrugia.
How dare you Saviour, after what you have admitted to yourself, dictate to me or anyone else for that matter, who to read and what and who to believe? And you out of all people dare speak about the Taliban.
May not mentioning your name have something to do with protecting himself from libel?
[Daphne – Not at all. Failure to mention the individual by name is no protection against a law suit if that person is easily identifiable to the man on the Clapham omnibus.]
Saviour said he doesn’t mention Daphne’s name ghax jaqbdu qugieh ta’ zaqq.
Maybe that’s why he is always wiccu maqrus because although he can’t mention Daphne’s name, he can’t get it out of his mind.
If Saviour “jaqdbu ugiegh ta’ zaqq” when he mentions Daphne’s name, I’d like to know what he feels when he reads this blog, which I suspect he reads secretly in the toilet anyway, just like Kev.
I like reading Saviour, but I do expect some sort of consistency. I think I do understand the chap because I must admit that I, like him, frequently change opinions.
I don’t see it as being crazy – it would be crazy if one changed opinions on really fundamental stuff like, oh let’s say the death penalty. But changing one’s opinions on the parochial fishpond politics that we have here seems a reasonable thing to do.
Changing one’s opinion is not a problem. It is the natural outcome of being open to new insight and information.
A belief in one’s right to the freedom of expression and a commitment to defend that right is a matter of principle, not opinion. If the ‘belief’ in that right fluctuates according to what is said or, more precisely about whom something is said, it is not principle at all, but merely a tool of convenience.
That was amply illustrated by the ‘golden age’ of labour from which much of the current labour line up derives.
Kif jista jkun li l-gazzetta Illum tkun indipendenti b’Julia Farrugia (it-tifla tal-Botom) bhala editur?