Shockingly bad reportage
People are sick of him, and because those who are trying to further his interests have no instinct for these things, they are not aware that it's going to boomerang.
I cannot, for the life of me, understand why standards at The Times – which used to be so strict about these things – have plummeted to the point where even the most basic rules of reporting are not being adhered to.
Reporting at The Times has descended rapidly to the level of Malta Today, a situation which is very unfair to those members of its newsroom who have no agenda, know the rules and stick to them.
Take the story about Pullicino Orlando being asked to stand for election on the PN ticket in 2013 as a gross example of misreporting, if not outright false reporting.
Pullicino Orlando wrote on his Facebook wall (pathetic and totally inappropriate for a politican and a man his age): “I have been asked to contest the 10th electoral district in the forthcoming general elections by a high ranking member of the PN administration.”
The Times immediately ran an online headline – PN ASKS JPO TO CONTEST ON THE 10TH DISTRICT – and a story reporting Pullicino Orlando’s claim as fact without ringing the Nationalist Party’s secretary-general or leader for confirmation or comment.
This is so appallingly unprofessional that I am left gasping.
There is no way on earth that a reporter at that level – the piece doesn’t carry a by-line – fails to be aware that he or she is obliged to ring the Nationalist Party for confirmation and comment and to get that confirmation (or denial) and comment BEFORE publication of the news report.
But instead, The Times published Pullicino Orlando’s claims as undisputed fact and then, when the report was online already, sent the Nationalist Party a set of questions which have been answered, though the answers are not yet on line or included in the report.
And how do I know this?
Because I rang the Nationalist Party and asked. I asked whether it is true Pullicino Orlando has been offered the chance of re-election on the PN ticket, who the ‘high-ranking official’ he talked about is, and whether The Times had sought confirmation or denial from the party’s communications office or secretary-general.
The answer to the first question was No. Jeffrey Pullicino Orlando has not been asked to contest the 2013 general elections and no decisions on candidates have been taken.
The answer to the second question was ‘Nobody knows who he’s talking about’.
The answer to the third question was ‘Yes, The Times sent in questions after reporting Jeffrey’s claims as fact.’
This is the story on timesofmalta.com, masquerading as a report.
———-
The Nationalist Party has again asked Nationalist MP Jeffrey Pullicino Orlando to contest the next election on its behalf.
He has been asked to contest on the 10th district.
Dr Pullicino Orlando wrote on his Facebook wall:
“I have been asked to contest the 10th electoral district in the forthcoming general elections by a high ranking member of the PN administration.”
Contacted by timesofmalta.com this morning, Dr Pullicino Orlando, who in the last election was elected from the seventh and 11th districts, said that he has still not decided whether or not to contest the next election but if he does he will definitely do so on behalf of the Nationalist Party.
“I posted the message to get the people’s reaction and so far it has been positive. People have already offered to help. If it is up to me, I would like to retain the seventh district, which is my district but I would consider contesting the 10th as my second district,” he said.
Considered by many as a controversial figure within the party, Dr Pullicino Orlando has successfully moved the private member’s bill for the introduction of divorce in Malta, a bill expected to get Parliament’s final approval on Monday.
The Nationalist Party took a position against divorce but allowed its MPs to vote according to conscience.
Dr Pullicino Orlando was involved in another controversial issue before the last election, that of the Mistra disco saga.
Former Labour leader Alfred Sant had broke the story and Dr Pullicino Orlando had arrived at a press conference on PBS as a journalist to question Dr Sant.
The Nationalist MP obtained his best results ever in the election that followed.
———-
It is fascinating to see that whoever wrote that story took the trouble to contact Jeffrey Pullicino Orlando and get quotes before publication, but got quotes from the Nationalist Party afterwards and still hasn’t published them yet because those quotes negate their report, which will have to be rewritten without Pullicino Orlando as the hero of the piece.
The Times should get a grip on itself and some of its staff and ensure that it does not end up serving its readers ill so as to serve interests that are more than adequately served already by Malta Today and Maltastar.
Equally, those who are currently engaged in lionising Jeffrey Pullicino Orlando and who have little or no experience of how public perception works should take it from me that the whole thing is about to boomerang.
People have had it up to here with him and they voted for divorce despite him not because of him.
Jeffrey and his coterie of malcontents and newspapermen have succumbed to ‘group-think’. This is where a small group of people isolate themselves from engagement with others and delude themselves that everyone has the same feelings, beliefs and perceptions that they do.
It happened to the prime minister and his immediate circle with divorce. It is happening to Jeffrey & Co in the matter of their own glory.
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First thing Monday morning I will travel to Valletta to have my ID card changed to a 10th District address.
I plan to get there at 6am (Arriva permitting) to beat the queues.
JPO is like a diaper. He needs to be changed.
And is full of s*it!
While the anonymous reporter who wrote the piece certainly deserves your (and my) opprobrium, the sub-editor and editor who let the piece go through tale quale bear an even greater responsibility.
And the past participle (I hope the reporter doesn’t have to look that up) of “to break” is of course “broken” not “broke”.
What a pompous ass.
On second thoughts I doubt whether items on timesofmalta.com are vetted by sub-editors or editor. I mistakenly thought the item was in the print version of “The Times”. Will it be there unchanged tomorrow?
It’s the same even on The Malta Independant.
Irrespective of whether the Nationalist Party asked him or not, why does he have to post everything on Facebook?
[Daphne – Because he’s one of those ‘people your age’ (mine) who people a generation younger say should never be allowed anywhere near Facebook because they don’t know the parameters of how it should be used. In fact look at them: the biggest Facebook addicts are not 20 – they’re pushing 50. And they ‘share’ all over their walls, starting with ghastly Hallmark poster quotes every day.]
I can understand that Manu Maltes may have been jealous about all the media attention on Cyrus Engerer.
But I never expected that Jeffrey Pullicino Orlando would want to compete for the limelight against Manu Maltes and his beautifully layered uncut cock.
I very much doubt that articles on timesofmalta.com are seen by the editor, who would need the be available 24/7 to do that. I don’t think The Times can afford that.
[Daphne – When there was no online edition, the newspaper had a night editor who would take over when the editor went home. I see no reason why the situation might be any different now. A night editor is even more important when stories are going live until at least 11pm. ]
Of course I’m not saying that it is a valid excuse for such bad reporting, but in general the printed edition is not as bad as the online edition, perhaps because the editor is involved.
The editor should in any case at least react after the fact and make sure the ‘journalists’ who write substandard crap either get themselves sorted out or fired.
The Times can afford so much more than a 24/7 editor/s, seeing they afford so many management and editing staff who are certainly neither managing nor editing anything.
What’s actually happening at The Times is that it’s run by a small group of journalists driven by a lanżita daqsiex against the PN in general and against Lawrence Gonzi in particular.
It shows in the comments that nowadays pass as ‘reporting’ in The Times by a new class of journalist on a mission to change Malta and the world, and not reporting to any acceptable standard – that’s so old-fashioned, they believe.
The management and editing staff just watch the show as spectators. U Mabel titqalleb fil-qabar.
As a start, the timesofmalta.com online editor should see that every article carries the name of the journalist who wrote it.
One can judge a piece by its author.
“It is happening to Jeffrey & Co in the matter of their own glory.”
& Co might mean reporters at The Times.
He put it on Facebook to test the waters probably.
He’s flying a kite.
Who asks people to stand for election with the PN?
Time will tell if he was lying.
[Daphne – Oh, I can answer that: the invitation must come from the party leader or secretary-general. But here’s the clincher. Those who are MPs already are not re-issued with a formal invitation because they are automatically reentered on the party list. It is failed candidates and new names who must be formally invited to contest. AND MPs WHO ARE IN SERIOUS TROUBLE WITH THE PARTY, like Pullicino Orlando is.]
Cyrus, constant as the Northern Star:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0UXOURd4Zg0
Most likely he is feeling insecure about his reelection bid and senses his political career is over. In desperation he threw a political balloon to see where the wind would take it.
No doubt, more of his gimmicks will be revealed in the next two years. The Mistra deal still stinks.
A truly disloyal MP.
timesofmalta.com is full of spelling mistakes and dreadful grammar.
Shameful.
Daphne,
Please remember some facts:
1. The PN is in government thanks to JPO – If he decides to merely abstain then we are in opposition!
2. Yes the PN needs JPO to contest district 10. It is bloody obvious! We need to keep pro divorce (liberals) voting on the ticket. Who can district 10 voters back? Pullicino? Christina? Enerer (pl)?
[Daphne – Il-vera tifhem, eh. Pullicino Orlando is despised nowhere more than in the 10th district. ‘I voted for divorce therefore I approve of Pullicino Orlando and will vote for him in 2013’ is a total non sequitur of which I am living, breathing and typical proof. People like me voted for divorce DESPITE Pullicino Orlando and I know many who would have voted for divorce but didn’t because they didn’t want their vote to be misinterpreted as a vote of approval for that prat.]
Therefore, YES, it is a fact he was asked to contest district 10 and YES we need his vote to hang on to power. What is your option? JM as PM?
Be objective!
[Daphne – ‘Yes it is a fact he was asked to contest’. No, it isn’t a fact. I asked and found out. Jeffrey Pullicino Orlando is a proven liar, and the root cause of his last three years of hysteria is that he was chastised and asked to resign for lying to his prime minister and party leader about the facts in the Mistra saga. He lied to me, too – to my face.]
After reading this post, I commented beneath the report on timesofmalta.com, saying that it is not true that the PN has asked JPO to contest the election. They never published my comment, and the heading of their article is still the same.
The quality of English used at The Times is sometimes abysmal. Making English O-level mandatory for reporters might help.
This is what happens when a newspaper expands its printing facilities to unsustainable levels, and then has to find content to fill them with.
In the meantime it has increased the price of the Saturday edition and one hopes that the current furore at the News of the World will have put those ‘key members’ of The Times newsroom off any idea they might have had of hacking into the phones of cabinet ministers but not, of course, Joseph Muscat’s.
The Times (eventually) contacted the PN Information Secretary who said that “While the PN executive committee will not decide on the candidates till a few months before the next election, I am sure that if he (Pullicino Orlando) wishes to again contest on behalf of the PN, he will be approved by the executive committee,” he said.
I’m willing to bet that the disco dentist will get the 10th District if he pushes for it. As for being elected, surely cobbling together a quota after the 6th or 7th count is not impossible?
Here’s the link:
http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20110724/local/JPO-approached-to-contest-10th-district-in-next-election.376950
Sliema, Mosta, Siggiewi wherever. If JPO is re-elected on the PN ticket then the PN as I know it is finished and not worth fighting for. This lying poser knows he is finished with the PN and is just chiselling away at Gonzi’s heart.
Jeffrey Pullicino Orlando is evasive – what a surprise.
http://www.maltatoday.com.mt/news/national/jpo-evasive-on-who-proposed-that-he-stands-on-10th-district
True Nationalists’ voters should never vote for a person who has proved to be disloyal to the party and its leader. The NP has been known in the past for persons with integrity and sound moral character.
If you honestly were hoping for the Nationalist’s administration to deny such a news story then you must have been very disappointed once you read their reaction. GonziPn has so lost the plot that even you are shocked at the sensless and blant desperational tactics of amateurish people surrounding Gonzi. For all your boasting of being a excellent people-reader, you really missed the fact that Gonzi has taken incompetent leadership to a new level. Is he really better than Joseph Muscat? Maybe, maybe not. But God we need a change. Even for change sake!
[Daphne – What a stupid argument and such poor reasoning. I have spent my entire life being cross and annoyed that my future and present are invariably held hostage, just as my past was wrecked, by the fact that even people who reason through their pants have a vote.]
If you’re honestly happy with the current state of affairs so be it. From my end, the disgusting crusade against Cyrus Engerer just when he resigned reminds me of the dark 80s. Again this is typical when a political party becomes the realm of a select few.
[Daphne – Wait until you have all the facts before you jump to conclusions. You might as well say that the police harass me because I am against the government.]
As regards JPO, you stuck your neck out that no way would the PN accept him to contest again. You were wrong. The PN will whore itself if need be.
[Daphne – The only politicians I see doing any whoring are the Labour leaders, whoring themselves out to all-comers. ‘Get them out for the lads, hoi!’]
I will not vote come next election. I want it to be made very clear that a sensible Nationalist-leaning voter has refrained from voting. There is no way that enough fresh faces will make it to the ballot box to kick this GonziPn out. So it needs a change in government. We lived through the 80s and Alfred Sant. Stop being so melodramatic. I’m sure will live through Joseph’s reign. If he’ll f**k up, then we’ll booth him out as we did with Fredu Sant.
[Daphne – Boot. If you’re the Jean I imagine you are, I’m not surprised you’re cheesed off. But there you go.]
How sad. When everything fails let us convince ourselves the criticism stems from ‘being cheesed off’. With apologetists like you no wonder this cohort of PN leaders is in such dire straits.
[Daphne – Oh, no, not every time, of course not! Lots of criticism is valid and not motivated by personal reasons. But where there are personal reasons, as in your case, the criticism has to be put into context and cannot be assessed separately to that. I am certainly not an apologist for any PN leader. In fact I believe rather a lot of changes need to be made at the top.]
You’ve got me all wrong. No personal reasons. And trust me. You really have no idea what you’re talking about. Of course you managed to water down my message. What is they say about shotting the messenger?
Jean – you just said you will not vote in the next election. So why all this heat? Just keep quiet and go and join those who will not vote just like those who did not vote in the divorce referendum.
After the election I hope I will still be here to see what place this Jean obtained from Muscat for helping him to victory.
Keep quiet? It seems Red Nose is another modern GonziPn member.
Do you honestly believe I need favours to make a living?
Even thanks to previous (real) Nationalist leaders such as RCC, Eddie, John Dalli (before his leadership grievance) made Malta a financial force which gives me a confortable living. Of course this present social work amateurish GonziPn leadership is making all this go pear-shaped.
Red Nose, you should get a life!