Unbelievable – they just don’t get it
The government has said that “uninvited media” are free to pay their own way and join official government trips like that to China.
What?
The government should either pay for everyone, or pay for no one – not pay for its favourites or those it considers most important. It is not a business corporation, which should and will pick and choose who and who not to invite along on press trips and pay for.
My own view is that the government should pay for nobody and media organisations should pay their own way. That makes for impartiality and more importantly, it reassures readers and viewers that you’re not too worried about asking pressing questions because the government has paid for your ticket and you’re scared they might drop you next time.
The government is wrong on other counts, too. Even if it doesn’t pay for journalists to go along, there are many situations in which journalists will not be able to join in even if they pay their own way, unless they have cooperation from the government. The China trip is a case in point.
You need a visa to go to China, and visa applications from journalists are scrutinised intensely.The journalists who joined the prime minister either had their visa requirement waived or their visa applications were taken care of at an official level and blessed right through.
Also, how do you turn up in China and try to follow the delegation if you are not part of it? Your entry will be barred right across. China isn’t Europe – too many people fail to understand this. Five years ago in Beijing I found a note under my hotel room door from the management, saying that guests were under no circumstances to leave the hotel that day under instructions received from the government authorities.
It was the 60th anniversary of the People’s Republic of China and no foreigners were allowed on the streets because a military parade involving 10,000 very frightening goose-stepping troops, tanks, rocket launchers and other weapons of war was due to parade through the city en route for Tiananmen Square.
When, with our European mindset, we said to ourselves “f**k that” and tried to go out anyway, we found our way barred at street level by ranks of police. Forcibly confined to barracks, we watched the really scary parade – which was actually designed to be intimidating – from the rooftop bar with people from all over the democratic world, looking at each other and saying: “This is surreal.”
Tiananmen Square looks very different now, Saviour ‘Peking Duck’ Balzan wrote for Malta Today. It didn’t that day, Mr BS – not at all. And that’s the real Chinese government.
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http://www.independent.com.mt/articles/2014-07-17/news/uninvited-media-free-to-pay-their-own-way-to-accompany-pm-5879201793/
On a light note.
“Speaker Anġlu Farrugia intervened in a bid to calm things down, at one point telling MP George Pullicino that “pulċinell” (clown) was not an appropriate word for parliament. On his part, Mr Pullicino insisted that he stood by his words, before Dr Fenech Adami was asked to conclude his address.”
http://www.independent.com.mt/articles/2014-07-17/news/opposition-mps-lash-out-at-gwus-silence-on-enemalta-5879824384/
The speaker should ask Jose Herrera which vocabulary is suited for parliament.
Free access to Tiananmen Square:
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-27321241
This is how China handles journalists: http://www.thedailybeast.com/videos/2009/06/04/bbc-reporter-blocked-by-umbrellas-in-china.html
They do get it, actually.
This is just Labour’s facetious way of shifting blame since they can’t use their usual retort that they’re only doing what the previous government used to do.
The rallying cry of the PN, nay the Maltese populace, should be:
“Yes to social justice, no to communism”. Plain and simple as that.
Be specific: no to capitalism run by communists.
Would you not rather be ruled by capitalism, where you can call speculators, robber barons without fear of having your head chopped off. Or would you prefer communism where at the first word of grievance its the chopping block.
Read my comment again. China is the worst of both worlds – capitalism run by speculators and robber barons.
F*ck social justice. That’s what led us to this mess in the first place. More money for the undeserving.
What happened under Gonzi?
http://www.independent.com.mt/mobile/2014-07-17/news/uninvited-media-free-to-pay-their-own-way-to-accompany-pm-5879201793/
The Malta Independent could have paid their own way to China.
Yes, right.
How facetious of Labour to speak as though China is a normal country.
Imagine turning up in Tiananmen square saying you’re a reporter who wants to cover the PMs’ (plural) meeting.
You’re more likely to be arrested as an enemy of the state than admitted to the opulent Great Hall of the People – if you can even get anywhere near it, that is.
Remember this?
http://www.thedailybeast.com/videos/2009/06/04/bbc-reporter-blocked-by-umbrellas-in-china.html
I’m curious – do you remember what part of Beijing you were staying in? (i.e. how close were you to Tiananmen Square?) October 1, 2009 (the day you must be referring to) was the first day of my second extended visit to Beijing and I can remember seeing the same sights and watching people milling about on the streets later in the afternoon and in the evening (my own flight arrived at around 8:00 am in the morning). I was able to walk around the neighbourhood of my temporary accommodation quite freely that day (then again, I was staying many miles away from the centre of the ‘festivities’).
[Daphne – If you were staying “many miles from the centre” you would obviously not have been affected. The centre was closed from the afternoon with all hotels instructing their guests politely not to try going out onto the street because it was not permitted. And in fact, we were not. We could not get past the police cordon immediately outside the hotel. The cordons at every street intersection in the centre and along most pavements not only prevented people from getting out, but they also prevented them reaching the hotel. One of our party, who had been out since the morning, ended up trapped behind one cordon after another, each time having to explain to officers who didn’t speak any other language that she was trying to reach her hotel to comply with orders, not escape from it to defy them.]
As for the rest: I couldn’t agree more that no government should involve itself in picking favourites among media organisations (and any government seen to be doing so should be subject to scorn). More to the point, I can’t understand why journalists don’t realise that agreeing to have your trip paid for will make it nigh-on impossible for you to be perceived as independent and credible in the eyes of your readers.
1st October is national day. There were several parade rehearsals before the actual day.
You really should change your nickname. It doesn’t say much for your language skills. I suppose you’re one of those rgiel ta’ success. It shows.
After a quarter of a century of PN administrations the MLP, now calling itself PL and being the government of the day, have forgotten how to govern (or never learned how anyway) while the PN, now in opposition, have forgotten how to oppose, criticise the government whenever it is its duty to do so.
Most media has been silenced except The Malta Independent for which Daphne Caruana Galizia is one of the resident correspondents/opinion makers.
I am of the opinion that Joseph Muscat used pressure on The Malta Independent’s board of directors to fire her by keeping out their journalists from the Maltese media group reporting on his China trip.
This is as expected. We said it would happen.
Labour is the same as it was 25 years ago. Instead of thugs and corrupt police, they have their television station. But the methods are the same.
And they still have no understanding of what democracy means, so this speech is lost on them. It’s a waste of time. The PN should walk out of parliament and stay out. Staying in parliament is aiding and abetting Labour.
http://www.independent.com.mt/articles/2014-07-17/news/governments-behaviour-not-acceptable-in-a-democracy-busuttil-5881462784/
The beginnings of a dictatorship.
If the 18000 switchers stay with Muscat at the next election, then they will deserve him being crowned ruler.
If BS is the Pee King, who is the Fairy Queen?