Malta Today’s online editor justifies his newspaper’s appalling standards
Portrait of a an irresponsible man: Matthew Vella
This comment was posted on maltatoday.com.mt, beneath one of the pseudo-reports on the Sliema deaths:
POSTED BY: Manuel Mangani — 04/01/2012 15:24:43
It is not simply the public’s speculation which is fuelling media reports. It is also, or perhaps mainly, media reports base don nothing but soeculation which are fuelling further public debate. This crassly insensitive attitude towards the memories of the dead individuals and their hurting families has reached truly shameful proportions. Will the media please desist? If you cannot moderate. cpmments why don’t you disable the facility, at least until more details are available? Should decent poeple decide to take matters in their own hands and boycott those sections media which are indulging in this shameless gossiping?
Malta Today’s online editor, Matthew Vella, then replied, seeking to justify himself. I am speechless. This from an employee of Saviour Balzan, if you please, who kicks up the most unbelievable hysterical fuss if anybody so much as mentions cast-iron facts about people connected to him through work or family.
POSTED BY: Matthew Vella — 04/01/2012 15:31:13
@ Manuel Mangani Every newspaper in the country is reporting every single detail of this crime. Including this call for silence. But a matter of public record cannot be ignored, no matter how hurtful this is for the families involved. This mysterious tragedy is perhaps unprecedented, but crime reporting can be very difficult when a blackout exists from official investigators. The press then depends on its police informants. So far, in most coverage, the press has reported the main leads in the investigation. If you notice, some of the more bold leads were first made in Maltastar and l-orizzont, then MaltaToday and the Times followed suit as they got double/triple confirmations. As an example: two days after l-orizzont floated the police lead on the wife possibly killing the aggressor, the Times today has run with that story. After all the fanciful theories bandied about, the media in general has been careful about how to report this case: in general, journalists are asking their sources to confirm if their information is as correct as much as possible at the time of going to publication. Manuel it is important that you and other people comment on the media’s reportage of the crime. I understand that some comments can get out of hand, even though they are the same comments we heard on the street. The most read stories on most newspapers (and most bookmarked on Facebook) are court and crime stories: people want to read about crime because it is also about greed, violence, revenge – all powerful human emotions. Sometimes it reflects important issues in society. Or maybe it happens to be a good story, with no wider implications. Either way, we must cover it properly. Even our audience expects it.
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… and the families should stop parading on television… next installment of the drama tomorrow on Bondi+…
I take it you mean the family, and not the families.
Audience, good story – is this guy serious?
The point is not ‘reporting facts’ or ‘giving readers what they want’ but ethical journalism. Look that up, Matthew.
Just imagine if this case happened somewhere in Bormla…i wonder if we would witness all these calls for silence!
[Daphne – There would be no need because there wouldn’t be talk, at least not on this scale. Most of the essential elements would be missing. Do you remember the fairly recent case of the man who was shot dead by an angry husband when, thinking that the angry husband was out, he visited his lover at her home at night? That’s right, you don’t. Almost nobody to whom I mentioned it does. It happened in Qormi.]
You would all say…u ijja, minn Bormla x’tistenna. There wouldn’t be any secrets, because everything will be explicitly exposed, shocking how it might be.
[Daphne – Not really, no. There would be no secrets because nobody would be interested in finding out to satisfy their own curiosity. Malice and prurience are generated by, among other things, a desire to see others of whom we are envious (people with money and possessions, boys who went to St Edward’s College, people who live in Sliema, that kind of thing) brought low and into suffering. Nobody is envious of the sort of people you cite as an example, hence the lack of curiosity or desire to see pain.]
I do remember that case, yes. It was quite shocking too.
[Daphne – Then you will also remember that there was no gossip or slander on this scale.]
On the 2nd point, I have to agree with you. This case has all the perfect ingredients to be sensationalised. It is actually for that reason why the police should step up their investigation and issue some kind of statement explaining what happened.
Unfortunately, the calls for silence and respect won’t silence the urge for curiosity.
Daphne, I disagree. You imply that curiosity is motivated by envy.
[Daphne – Certain kinds of curiosity are, yes.]
Gossip on the Qormi case, Daphne? Why pray? The facts were out the very same day!
[Daphne – No, they were not. But that wasn’t my point.]
[Daphne – Not really, no. There would be no secrets because nobody would be interested in finding out to satisfy their own curiosity. Malice and prurience are generated by, among other things, a desire to see others of whom we are envious (people with money and possessions, boys who went to St Edward’s College, people who live in Sliema, that kind of thing) brought low and into suffering. Nobody is envious of the sort of people you cite as an example, hence the lack of curiosity or desire to see pain.]
I think that this story has captivated people’s imagination because it’s difficult to see why two people who don’t know one another from Adam should end up killing each other with steak knives on new year’s day.
Had the people involved been from backgrounds other than their real ones the episode would have generated the same interest, I’m sure.
[Daphne – You are wrong to assume that they didn’t know each other. I am not saying here that they did know each other, just that the act of assumption, when you don’t have the facts or evidence, is wrong.]
The Qormi killing was quite “straightforward”. There wasn’t anything about which to speculate.
What has turned this into a circus is precisely the absence of verifiable – or verified – good quality information.
It is the sad truth unfortunately, we are going down the italian path (and other countries I suppose too… but we get Italian TV here), with all the unending repetitive programmes about crimes, interviews with families, friends and what not and speculation galore… and it does sell.
This is bloody real life news! Maybe people like him should start watching Murder she Wrote, again.
Well I’m sure that for Matthew Vella there’s no news like bad news.
When one says “at least” one should really mean THE least. The least we can do at the moment is only get to know the facts.
More than the least would mean shutting totally up. So please let’s give the families time to grieve.
Except that L-orizzont, The Times and The Malta Independent make it amply clear that their reports are on the hypotheses are being pursued by investigators. They do not present them as facts.
It’s what every self-respecting newspaper should revert to as the only legitimate source of information, the police.
Only this can lead to closure.
What Maltatoday and Maltastar are doing is to repeat hearsay, gossip and the use of phrases like ‘other surprises which may emerge’ anticipating grisly details in the next instalment, to be followed by another.
[Daphne – The ‘other surprises’ comment was made by The Times in its front-page piece. I thought it particularly appalling. They’re treating it like something on BBC Prime instead of a real tragedy involving real human beings: ‘tune in to the next instalment for a big surprise.’]
The amplification of ‘greed, violence and revenge’, packaged together in a morbid bonanza for voyeurs and losers, is exclusively theirs.
Malta Today also reports on ‘startling revelations’ which are nothing more than Maltastar’s story on ONE line of investigation among many. The information was not released officially by the police. It was provided by informants.
What and how much were those informants paid?
“Should decent poeple decide to take matters in their own hands and boycott those sections media which are indulging in this shameless gossiping?”
Yes.
Posted by: Manuel Mangani— 04/01/2012 22:31:25
@ Victor Laiviera. Firstly I only suggested the disabling of the facility to comment since MT is not filtering reader’s comments. All sort of rubbish is being allowed to appear without the slightest consideration being given to its effects. Secondly, the fact that I happen to disagree is not of the slightest importance. I disagree with many things – you should know because you and I have crossed swords on a number of occasions on this site – but I have never asked for the disabling of the comments facility before. These are special circumstances. Freedom of speech is not unlimited; like all rights it should end where other more essential rights are being infringed by its exercise.
Posted by: Manuel Mangani— 04/01/2012 22:30:28
@ Matthew Vella, The media cannot hide behind the public’s desire to know (or to be titillated, more likely) and justify the presentation of a sordid pastiche of fact, rumour, speculation and conjecture – and I am not referring only, or even particularly, to MT. The public’s wishes, however strong, cannot supersede the right of individuals who are bewildered and shell-shocked to grieve in what little peace circumstances allow them. Are we to set our minds at rest because (supposed) contacts within the police force have been asked to confirm that their information (note, about hypotheses and theorems which are often proved wrong, not facts) is correct at the time it is passed on? Do effects on hurting people come into the equation at all? Has anybody given a thought to what those twins will read when they grow up and seek information about the defining moment of their lives, as they are bound to? No, Matthew, it is not all that important for people like me to comment, if those remarks will interfere with the unimaginably difficult bereavement process of the young men’s families and the children’s well-being. The urge to comment can wait. Proper grieving should not be made to.
Those comments were posted on Malta Today
Well done, Mr Mangani. There are still a few decent people around.
I also thought the “more surprises comment” to be particularly appalling, as was the “intimate” comment on maltastar.com.
First I read the story on timesofmalta.com and some hundreds of comments like ‘he must burn in hell’ etc.
Then the PBS news said it was not a burglary – at last, some informed news.
Daphne, I would too prefer silence in these cases but hope not only in this one but in all cases where we are stepping a bit too high on peoples emotions especially when someone loses his life.
Furthermore I have seen comments by famiy memebrs on the media and they are adding to the speculation. They must first give an example.
About a week ago timesofmalta.com carried an article about a Maltese short Film which won a prestigious award in New York. Obviously this was reported in a few minutes on One News and Malta Today. I tried to check on the internet on this famous award and have found nothing except in a very second-class site.
Journalists shoudl check thier sources first as today on the internet you can easily check the truth.
This is just a small example as many others are available on certain news items that are given as fact but they are just mere wishful thinking.
This idea of grandeur is a bit of Maltese folklore but at least we must report the truth and not speculate.
The best part of Mr Mangani’s comment is when he suggests “Should decent poeple decide to take matters in their own hands and boycott those sections media which are indulging in this shameless gossiping?”
I may not tick all boxes of decent, but I have decided to do so.
I took it a step further and banned all office discussion about the case.
As far as Matthew Vella is concerned, one cannot expect better from people such as he, who, like their employers, are unable to understand basic values.
“But a matter of public record cannot be ignored, no matter how hurtful this is for the families involved.”
Does he really not see the amorality in his statement?
How about today’s bombshell from Franco Debono, Daphne ? Can you, il-Bocca and Lou save Gonzi from Franco ?? According to a PN MP in Malta we no longer have democracy but an OLIGARCHY !!
[Daphne – Haven’t they put you in some wax museum yet? I can’t believe you’re still around sticking up for Labour. Here you are, on your fourth Labour leader and saying the same things about Labour that you were saying back in the 1970s on the Letters to the Editor page in The Times. If the Labour Party had a Ball-Breakers Hall of Fame, you’d be in it.]