“Your donation strengthens our freedom to lie about others”
Published:
August 1, 2012 at 4:07pm
Saviour Balzan has been reduced to taking out advertising in his own newspaper to beg for money so that he can keep right on lying about others, safe in the knowledge that you will pay the fines.
And this is a man who, when I write about him, goes absolutely hysterical and phones anyone he knows – except me of course, in case I bite his ass – in an attempt at trying to stop me.
Why doesn’t he use his own money? He’s just had a permit approved for a swimming-pool on his roof. If he can afford a pool, he can afford to pay his fines.
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It’s good to know that he can afford a swimming pool under a GVERN BAHH.
Saviour Balzan knows perfectly well that no one will bother buying his book, let alone read it.
“Your donation strengthens our independence.”
I do not understand Saviour’s logic. It is an independent court which determines whether there was libel or not, based on examination of facts and law. So what does independence have to do with it?
If anything, it can only mean that Saviour intends to engage a lawyer that’s better than Toni Abela, the Deputy Leader of the Malta Labour Party. Something which he should do anyway right now if he really wants to strengthen his independence.
The book’s two months from being published and he’s already giving it away for free.
Or is the Malta Libel Fund an excuse to bolster sales?
I have other priorities; I like to give my money to deserving causes.
The MaltaToday Lying Fund.
Also to make up for almost non existing advertising in his publications ( in brackets)
“Why doesn’t he use his own money? He’s just had a permit approved for a swimming-pool on his roof. If he can afford a pool, he can afford to pay his fines.”
Let’s approach this logically, shall we?
He can probably only afford one of the two – He either builds a pool, or he pays his fines.
This will not do, as he wants both.
So, between placing an advert titled the ‘Saviour Balzan rooftop pool fund’ and another titled ‘The MaltaToday libel fund’, I suppose we can all agree that the later is a bit more palatable and less brazen, and in the circumstances the better option.
The circa 1974 build-your-own-computer-at-home-advert font though, is, unfortunately, a deal breaker for me. So no donation from my end, I’m afraid.
Pity, as I would have loved the ‘free’ gift.
I understand that if I donate Euro 100 or more, I will receive a free copy of the book to be published in October 2012 “Saying it as it is”, which may contain further libellous material and I will have to make further donations of Euro 100 for further books.
Will Saviour be publishing a list of all donors and amounts donated?
Will any donors whose name is mentioned in “Saying it as it is” have their name and case removed before publication?
Dan bis-serjeta?
Hang on a minute. If the price of that book is 26 euro, why should I pay 100 euro and receive only one copy of the book?
Can someone from fair competition look into this practice of Malta Today?
Ghaliex, il-pool ta’ Roger ma tesghux?
But if his stories reflected the truth, he and his paper would not have been fined and hiring expensive lawyers would have been totally unnecessary.
Can Saviour not figure this one out yet?
There is something disturbing about a commercial entity asking for donations. Will MaltaToday publish its accounts for public scrutiny? I wish some authority would intervene. I’m not sure whether this is illegal, but it is certainly ethically dubious.
You are absolutely right. This man wants the public to subsidize his Lie Business.
There are two people for whom criminal libel should be kept. He’s one of them.
He is not the first one to do it. Some years back there was an advert in l-Orizzont asking for donations for a libel fund. But it appeared only once – they realised that actually they were advertising the fact that they were liars.
Point is, there are times when journalists are given tips, or even entire stories, which cannot be proved 100% in a court of law … or else the journalist is clumsy in the write-up … So, it is not always the case of lies. Sometimes it is truth which cannot be proved.
But not in Malta Today’s case. There were times when they did not mismanage the truth, because there was no truth to mismanage in the first place – they INVENTED stories with the clear intention to attack and destroy people’s reputations. These acts are worse than lies. These are criminal acts.
It is my deeply-held belief that criminal libel should remain on our statute books, because of the malicious abuse of the democratic right to freedom of expression.
How low can they go?
So what do you think will pop up when you open the book?
Saliva.
Bile.
Another big mouth wants us to believe that he’s a victim.
In Maltese we say “Min xarrbu kielu l-bakkaljaw”.
Dak ghax jaf li dak li jikteb mimli gideb, allura qed jilqa minn qabel.
He phones everyone he knows when you write about him to try to stop you. Yet he earns his living inventing lies about others in an attempt to destroy his adversaries.
Now he wants money to pay his libel fines.
If he is losing libel suits and is being fined in court it means he has no proof to substantiate his insinuations.
A serious newspaper would have fired such an editor not publish adverts asking for money to pay his fines.
[Daphne – They can’t fire him. He owns half the newspaper.]
SPECIAL OFFER
Savior Balzan guarantees that persons donating Euro 1,000.- or more will be spared from being sent a copy of Saying It As It Is.
…or, maybe, he cannot afford the rooftop pool either.
I am no journalist but I would imagine that as a newspaper/journalist, losing a libel case must be one of the most embarrassing situations you can get yourself into since it proves that
1. credibility is lacking
2. incapability of coming up with a scoop.
The fact that Malta Today are so happy advertising their misconduct, which results in various libel claims which they lose, is just astounding.
Is it even legal? This is tantamount to helping a criminal raise money to pay his bail before he even commits the crime.
“Give me money to continue lying about people. I won’t stop my irresponsible and illegal behaviour.”
Brussell hemm hafna boqxiex, Salv.
Gib ftit min hemm.
Does Roger de Giorgio really want to be associated with such amateurs?
This is no original idea. Manwel Cuschieri, of “Manwelllll..ghallimna inti” fame, used to have a Libel Fund too.
If it’s as cruddy as his videoblog, the publisher can expect a nice big flop.
As for the title, I suspect Saviour really thinks that about himself except that he’s as independent as his lawyer.
I’ve never fathomed why a decent man like Roger puts up with Saviour.
We all know what the gist of Saviour’s book will be anyway, don’t we?
“It is all Natalino’s fault”.
Mr. B, my reply is the same as the one given in the case ‘Arkell v Pressdram’. Pip pip.
He also has a yacht tied up at the marina which he hardly ever uses. If he is so hard up, how about selling his yacht. Oh and he bought this yacht ‘taht gvern tal BAHH”
18,000 euros paid into the MaltaToday Libel Fund would pay for a lot of Whoppers. Joseph Muscat should consider it a lifetime investment.