Finding out about Malta from the BBC
Published:
February 20, 2011 at 10:36pm
Austria has sent a military plane to Malta to prepare for the evacuation of citizens of EU member states from Libya, and we have to learn about it from the BBC and diepresse.com.
I despair.
Even when the story has a Maltese angle (twice over), our newsrooms fail to pick it up. timesofmalta.com has one line telling us what the BBC said, uploaded at 6pm.
No one appears to have made any attempt to find out the where, when and what of evacuation, or find the answer to what is now a screamingly obvious question: is Malta is going to be the evacuation base for the whole of the European Union, and if so, then who is going to organise it?
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It was on the 18.00 and 20.00 news on TVM together with film of the Hercules C-130 aircraft parked at MIA.
[Daphne – Yes, after TVM picked up the lead from the BBC. It’s kind of odd that the BBC finds out about a rescue aircraft sent to Malta before our own reporters do.]
There were times, 25 years or so ago, when we had to tune in to RAI (when it wasn’t blocked) for news about Malta. Must we really resort to relying on foreign news yet again, to find out what affects us?
http://news.sky.com/skynews/Home/World-News/Libya-Protests-Benghazi-Liberated-By-Soldiers-As-They-Defect-From-Gaddafis-Forces/Article/201102315937134?lpos=World_News_Carousel_Region_0&lid=ARTICLE_15937134_Libya_Protests%3A_Benghazi_Liberated_By_Soldiers_As_They_Defect_From_Gaddafis_Forces
News about situation in Libya is confusing due to the internet black-out imposed by Gaddafi but according to Sky a determining factor could be the position to be taken by the army.
Wonder what the situation will be tomorrow morning; something has got to give with people being massacred with artillery fire.
There’s a live feed of news from Green square in Tripoli at
http://www.libyafeb17.com/
And of course, the rumours have begun already:
http://thelibyanrevolution.tumblr.com/post/3402067945/on-the-radio-they-are-talking-about-the-austrian-plane
“Austria announced Sunday it was sending a military plane to Malta in view of evacuating Austrian and European citizens from Libya or other Arab countries, following recent unrest in the region.
“Due to the security situation in Libya, which has worsened in the last few hours, the government has decided to send a C-130 Hercules from the Austrian army, as well as special relief units, to southern Europe,” the defense ministry said in a statement.
“The escalation of the situation in Libya has made preparations for the evacuation of Austrian as well as European Union nationals necessary,” Defense Minister Norbert Darabos added.
The military plane flew off Sunday morning, but when the evacuations would take place was still undecided, the ministry said.” http://beta.naharnet.com/stories/en/3231-austria-prepares-for-evacuations-from-libya-other-arab-countries
Organise it in Malta? That’s an oxymoron.
What about the proverbial piss-up in a brewery ? As long as the beer is free……
http://news.sky.com/skynews/Home/World-News/Libya-Protests-Benghazi-Liberated-By-Soldiers-As-They-Defect-From-Gaddafis-Forces/Article/201102315937134?lpos=World_News_Carousel_Region_0&lid=ARTICLE_15937134_Libya_Protests%3A_Benghazi_Liberated_By_Soldiers_As_They_Defect_From_Gaddafis_Forces
“Even when the story has a Maltese angle (twice over), our newsrooms fail to pick it up. timesofmalta.com has one line telling us what the BBC said, uploaded at 6pm.”
Daphne, we all know that The Times website stops at around 7pm.
Their main business is printing tomorrow’s paper during the night.
The night editor’s main duty is to give us the latest news printed on tomorrow’s issue.
Same applies to Malta Today.
If there is going to be an airlift we will know about it tomorrow.
“If there is going to be an airlift we will know about it tomorrow.”
Are you a born optimist? Or just a natural logician?
Either way, perhaps you could take the time to explain to Maltastar that not featuring on an airline’s drop-down menu means exactly that.
Newspapers overseas update their web sites 24/7 whenever there is important breaking news. Tomorrow’s printed newspaper is already out of date at the time of this post because it has already been put to bed.
The Times is the only paper in Malta with some sort of activity on its website.
MT and the other sites just cut and paste news from the Times.
Malta Independent just puts its paper on the net after 10.00, like the Times.
I think that the duties and efforts of the “Night Editor” in any newspaper are not really appreciated enough by the paper-readers. Quite a back-breaking job
I think that in times like these when there is breaking news which directly affects Malta in various ways there should be a web editor to continue updating timesofmalta.com 24/7.
The last update before the web site “shut” down for the night was that about the illegal shooting of spoonbills. Not that this has no news value, but come on, the rapidly evolving events in Libya take precedence over anything else, except maybe the ourbreak of World War III.
Daphne, after the blackout caused to Media Today by the pro-Mubarak lobby, you have to forgive the Maltese news websites for not covering the Libyan popular revolts.
Saw it on the BBC a couple of days ago but strangely enough it only made the headlines here today (Mon 21.02), as far as I could see, with reports about rumours that Austria was sending Gaddafi military assistance, vehemently denied, of course.
Just to clarify – only made the headlines in the Austrian media is what I mean by ‘here’.