Situation Vacant
Published:
November 30, 2011 at 5:10pm
I hear with sadness that Lou Bondi has decided to stop his blog. When he started back in the summer, I felt less alone out here. Now it’s back to being alone again among the bush-beaters and the circuitous-speakers.
It was fun while it lasted. But isn’t it amazing how so many people just can’t deal with that way of writing and thinking?
Laqwa li noqghodu nduru mal-lewza.
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There is still hope …… http://www.azzopardinicky.com/
[Daphne – I agree, but I hope he reads this when I say: PLEASE NICKY, REGISTER ANOTHER DOMAIN AND PUT YOUR NAME BEFORE YOUR SURNAME. PLEASE.]
I agree. A simple google search doesn’t give his site!
Lou Bondi is a stupid person’s idea of what a smart person sounds like. You’re a much better writer.
[Daphne – No. Lou Bondi IS a smart person.And this really has nothing to do with whether I’m a better writer or not. That’s irrelevant. Some of the best writers make the worst bloggers. Other qualities are required. There’s a really young person – Nicky Azzopardi (azzopardinicky.com) who shows promise. I hope he keeps at it.]
Not challenging what you said Daphne, but his blog was never going to garner as much interest as you have managed to do with yours. When I’m finished reading yours, I go “oh BondiBlog by the way”. it just doesn’t come naturally – never did, and unlikely anyone’s will be as catchy and addictive as yours.
So keep at it. It’s nice to stand out – especially for the good reasons.
Lou Bondì is smart but you’re the better writer and your articles are way more interesting. Bondì sticks to the sort of stuff that’s in the news anyway. You MAKE the news.
I’m sitting here in Switzerland, Baxxter, up in the Alps. No goddam snow, can’t ski!
Daphne IS the news.
Still think her journalistic ability is more suited for the New York Times.
Daphne’s are damn-right entertaining , off the cuff and no beating about the bush whatsoever.
And she looks beyond the confines of this horrible Sicilian village. Bondì doesn’t. Especially since he teamed up with Joe Azzopardi.
[Daphne – Sigh.]
I think it’s an unfair comparison. Maybe Lou Bondi is somewhat inferior to Daphne as a writer, but that’s because he’s more than that – he’s also a TV presenter, something Daphne isn’t and probably never will be.
[Daphne – Yes, I am totally inferior to Lou on that score and have absolutely no desire to enter the field. But the same remains that we are both direct and this is alien in Maltese discourse, which is why it jars with so many people.]
Actually, his blog, if you leave out the sometimes lame metaphors, was a good-enough read. However, I fully agree with his decision to stop — though his views and opinions remained always consistent, the tone at which he conveyed them differed vastly between his blog and his TV show.
Sometimes, it almost felt like there were 2 Lou Bondis, and Malta isn’t big enough for both.
he s promising because he speaks your foul language daphne. i d rather be praised by the devil than by you.
I am still trying to work out what you mean by your last para.
Is there something that we don’t know about the real reason why Bondi stopped his blog?
There was a recent headline in some e-newspaper (forgot which it was) that stated that Minister Cristina had told Bondi to tone down on his blogs.
The scenario – Cristina is responsible for PBS. Bondi and Where’s everybody are PBS contractors. Gino Cauchi and the PL recently raised hell about Bondi and PBS. Joe Grima keeps grouching about the ‘tnaqqir fid-demokrazija’ and other similar crap. Bondi’s motto has always been ‘gurnalizmu fuq kollox.’
The minister announces that her meeting with Bondi was not ‘confrontational’.
Does this sequence of facts tell you anything?
I will not try to defend Mr.Bondi on anything – he’s perfectly capable of doing that himself. But I will state that our society has a very big debt with Mr.Bondi for the way he managed to transform TV journalism. Thank you Mr.Bondi.
He’s run out of braces (suspenders a la USA’s Larry King). At least he wore a jacket when interviewing the President this time.
http://ilovemalta.tumblr.com/ is good too.
No one can be 100% impartial, but a TV presenter like Lou should look 100% impartial, and never take sides like he did in the divorce issue.
[Daphne – You are completely wrong. In a fully-fledged democracy, TV presenters are expected to take a stand on matters like that, and it is considered strange if they don’t.]
With his blog, Lou entered the political fray.
Can you, for example imagine yourself presiding a debate on the benefits of breastfeeding without showing how you feel about it, Daphne?
[Daphne – Wrong again. Lou does not ‘preside over debates’. He interviews people one on one. Or hadn’t you noticed that things have changed? My strong feelings against the hype about breastfeeding would make me a BETTER interviewer of somebody like Marianne Theuma, because it would mean I’d really grill her. Also, you forget that I, like Lou, do this kind of thing professionally. Professional people maintain professional standards. They do not interview people or debate with them for political reasons, as do the employees of the party propaganda machines.]
I think you can’t , so your place should be in the panel not in the chairperson’s place.
[Daphne – Who exactly is talking about a debate here? Journalism and interviewing are not the same thing as chairing a debate. There is some confusion here.]
Lou can’t write an anti PL political comment on his blog and then go to interview Joseph Muscat without being biased against him, his programme loses a lot of credibility with that kind of behaviour.
[Daphne – Why not? The newspapers I worked for never banned me from interviewing X or Y on the grounds that I had written against them. On the contrary, they realised that this would make for an even better interview. This is my world, John, so please don’t keep trying to teach me about it. It’s what I know.]
Pierre Portelli had to resign from his PN post to co-present TVAM , Lou had to ‘resign’ from his political blog, like Pierre did.
[Daphne – Oh, FFS. Honestly. Come on. You’re not silly, so why give the impression that you are? Pierre Portalli was a political party official. That’s why he had to resign his post before working for PBS – it wasn’t because PBS demanded it, but because the party expected it. Lou is not a party employee. Nor is he a PBS employee – I find it necessary to point that out because people seem to think otherwise. He is self-employed, like I am. ]
Although he is not a PBS employee he is still airing his program on the national station which is funded by tax payers who are both Labour and Nationalist, thereofre i can’t ifnd any solution how he can be biased when supporters of both parties are fudning the station he airs his program on…..remember Daphne where’s everybody is a company not a TV station
[Daphne – PBS is not funded by taxpayers any longer, BC. It sells airtime and advertising, and its staff complement and overheads have been trimmed down. Very soon, you won’t have to pay a TV licence any more (not that PBS ever got the TV licence money directly). I can’t see why you have a problem with the show being produced by a company. Wait for the credits to roll the next time you’re watching the BBC.]
1. I remeber an increase in that tax licence some few budgets ago to about 15 euros or Lira (not sure) so yes it used to be at least funded by tax payers, and I can’t verify right now wheter it still is, when at such time Lou Bondi was still airing his program and was still a biased staunch Nationalist supporter
[Daphne – I see. So those who vote Nationalist are not allowed to make their views known. You know, I’m almost tempted to make a proposal to PBS, just to put the cat among your pigeons. What fun that would be, eh.]
2. Very soon,,, define it for me because even Smart city Gonzi said very soon we would have 5000 more jobs, and 3 and a half years passed and no jobs, so very soon for you might be 20 years like Dr. Gonzi
[Daphne – Where I come from, BC, we look up our own information. If you were nicer or more intelligent, I might have been tempted to help out. But dealing with such humourless lack of charm is off-putting.]
3. I have no problem with the show being produced by a company, my problem is that that show is aired on the NATIONAL TV station
[Daphne – All the Maltese television stations are national, BC, because they are not local. The newspaper I work for, for instance, is a national newspaper. What you mean is that PBS is a public service broadcaster (the clue is in the acronym). So is the BBC, and it buys in programmes from commercial production companies and why, it even allows those who work for it to have political opinions and talk about them.]
4. I will
Thanks
[Daphne – ‘Thanks’. The typical Labour chav parting shot. I am so amused by the way your lot use ‘Good day’ as speakers of idiomatic English would use ‘good morning’ and then use ‘thanks’ like ‘good day’ should be used (‘you are dismissed’).]
“(Pierre’s resignation )wasn’t because PBS demanded it, but because the party expected it”.
You’re not well informed on this one Daphne, even it is your world:
“Regarding Mr Portelli’s participation in the programme, Dr (Natalino)Fenech explained that once DeeMedia put forward the three names, PBS requested that the presenters “do not have direct ties with political parties”. This resulted in Mr Portelli choosing to further his career in the media rather than politics.”
http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20110918/local/Former-PN-PL-officials-to-host-breakfast-show.385115
Portelli had to choose, and Lou has to follow suit: either the blog or the programme.
Bondiblog and BondiPlus don’t mix.
PBS is funded by the public whichever way you look at it.
[Daphne – John, this is completely illogical reasoning. Where in the rule book does it say that people who work for PBS are not allowed to express their political opinions because….PBS is funded by the state? Aside from the fact that PBS is now mainly funded by its own business deals, if there were to be a ban on the expression of political opinions it would have nothing to do with state funding and everything to do with this being the public broadcaster. To wit, if PBS receives no state funding at all, the ban would still apply. And no, the Nationalist Party would not have permitted one of its senior officials to become at TVAM talk-show host.]
Airtime is bought by a media house and adverts are paid for product publicity at the end the consumer/public pays.
[Daphne – Are you quite serious? ]
When there is an educational programme like Saviour Balzan’s which was funded by EU it was still being paid by the public/taxpayer.
When media houses don’t buy airtime the tax payer has to fork out the money, and no one will be fired like in a private run entity.
If I were nicer, who’s talking about being nice, you of all people, Daphne Caruana Galizia, who even Nationalist consider it evil to mention thy name….whooooaaa that was shocking….apart form that the other comments were loss of my time, apart from the fact that by national I mean that the whole nation, all taxpayers, all families, pay to co-fund such station…sorry for not being direct.
[Daphne – Words have intrinsic meanings, BC. Nobody cares what you WANTED them to mean. There, see? You learned something from this blog: that national does not mean the same thing as state-owned.]
And yes typical Labour have our own way of saying things
Thanks
Then learn something more blogger, every word is susceptible to interpretations….maybe you should return to academy or something like that blogger……what an insult to the intellect society
[Daphne – Relax, take a deep breath and make sure you take your medication. We can’t have you running about the streets with no clothes on.]
Then if the general public should voice his opinion on the station than it should be opinion from both sides of the spectrum not just from the Nationalist side …..Constitution Article 119: 119. (1) It shall be the function of the Broadcasting Authority
to ensure that, so far as possible, in such sound and television
broadcasting services as may be provided in Malta, due impartiality
is preserved in respect of matters of political or industrial
controversy or r e l a t ing to current publ i c pol icy and that
broadcasting facilities and time are fairly apportioned between
persons belonging to different political parties.
Now what, you defy the supreme law in the island…bet you will, however Iike many others I bet you won’t post the comment
[Daphne – The general public is not a man and hence won’t be voicing HIS opinion. And please don’t tell me again that this is a matter of opinion. That bit of the Constitution refers to what happens ON television and not outside it. As long as you are balanced and unbiased while actually on air, the Constitution and the Broadcasting Authority have no say in what you do outside it. Indeed, if the Broadcasting Authority attempts to stop anybody from expressing their political views outside the context of televisiion, there is a strong Constitutional case to be made. Ironically. Please don’t come back with another argument that causes me further distress at the thought that people like you get to decide the fate of this country.]
So you are saying that Lou Bondi , Peppi Azzopardi, and co are biased only in their private life….hah then we must be seeing differnet Xarabank and differnet bondiplus ta
[Daphne – Sadly, you are one of those people who confuse opinion with bias. Also, you make the mistake of thinking that Labour politicians suffer more under questioning because the interviewer is evil and biased. The reason is that they are not well prepared and that they are at a disadvantage because they have no policies to speak of. Anglu Farrugia was ridiculed all over town after his appearance on Bondi+ not because Bondi was mean and biased but because Anglu manifests a dangerous combination of stupidity and arrogance, coupled with a stupendous detachment from the facts.]
When presenting or asking questions on TVM, the least one should do is voice his opinion since it is a unbiased station…..on the second part of the argument, well waste of time
John Schembri, your first sentence came as a complete shock to me. Completely out of tune with your record.
Bondi iis neither the President of the Republic nor the Speaker of the House.
What utter nonsense.
I am sorry.
Anthony, perception is the name of the game.
If a TV host is perceived as being biased against a cause, and presents a programme which is supposed to be balanced on the same subject , the people would lose trust in the station on which the program is presented.PBS is the contractor for the Broadcasting Authority. That’s why it’s our National TV station.
[Daphne – Tum te tum. It’s the STATE BROADCASTER or PUBLIC SERVICE BROADCASTER, not the national television station. There is no such thing, or rather, all Maltese television stations are national because they are not local.]
I’d rather have a TV presenter hosting a programme where s/he declares her/his agenda ON THE SAME PROGRAMME than someone posing as a neutral person who then manipulates the programme to suite his agenda.
[Daphne – You have just contradicted yourself, John.]
A glaring example was the divorce issue: we all know that Where’s Everybody were all out in favour of divorce, they always wanted to push in religion in the argument knowing fully well that the Church was not preaching fire and brimstone.
[Daphne – Actually, John, what I remember most of Where’s Everybody’s programmes about the divorce issue was Lou Bondi doing something I’d never seen him do before – instructing his production people on air to turn off Jeffrey’s microphone when he went out of control. How does that fit in with your view?]
At the end of the referendum campaign small pressure groups and ‘preachers’ started to mushroom all over Malta. One of them was the classic bible basher who was shown to us on Xarabank, opening his arms and preaching at us with a pious nauseating soft drone “What would you tell Jesus at the golden gates of heaven when you die?”
[Daphne – Ah, I see. So you think these people, who are real and exist, should have been kept hidden so as to protect the cause of the anti-divorce movement? I don’t think so. They were part of the story. Nothing tipped the scales in favour of the Yes vote except normal common sense, John. Common sense won out. End of story. I know you don’t like the result, but exactly how has divorce legislation changed the country since? ]
THAT TV appearance tipped the scales in favour of divorce! That’s how the media is manipulated by the media people to push their agendas.
So that’s why Anglu Farrugia says Tuks Forss. It’s because Lou Bondi votes Nationalist.
Daphne, when a TV host declares his opinion on the same programme , he would be credible.You know where you are.
There are people who don’t read blogs, but watch TV.
[Daphne – John, you would be amazed how many people are perfectly confident that I am an anti-Labour witched who spews venom on their father’s graves, without ever having once read anything I’ve written, or knowing where it is published.]
Inviting someone to your programme without expressing the same stand about him written on your blog,is just not on.
I can think of another reason why Bondi had to renounce his blog. There could have been some arm twisting:
http://loubondi.blogspot.com/2011/11/setting-record-straight.html
Time will tell.
[Daphne – Obviously there was some arm-twisting. And we are never going to agree on this one, so let’s just let it go.]
…. and also ilovemalta.tumblr.com
It is a pity that Lou Bondi’s blog will be gone. It was the only other blog I used to read regularly.
I believe that Lou’s life was being made difficult because of it, and I think he made the right decision to protect his day job.
This should mean that his concentration returns to Bondi+ and that’s not good news for those sitting across him.
In his “last post,” Bondi writes:
“Blogging is an all or nothing activity. You either say what you think or you say nothing at all.”
I have to register a disagreement with him about this. When you have no thoughts of your own, you can always say what Gillian Tett thinks.
This is a very well written blog as well. Anonymous though.
http://ilovemalta.tumblr.com/
That’s a good alternative for BondiBlog.
I agree with Lou in his decision to stop his blog. He already has two shows per week on national TV, which in itself I believe is already too much. I like his style, but it is very difficult for any one person to remain interesting for so many years doing the same show once a week, let alone twice.
It did appear to me that Lou’s blog writings lately had mellowed down a bit, compared to his earlier writings, and become even more scarce the past few days. So that it all had to come to this is of no surprise to me.
I disagree with BC that interviewers like Lou Bondi have to appear impartial. Everyone is entitled to his opinion, no one is 100% impartial, everyone is biased one way or the other, especially in Malta. I also think that knowing the journalist’s views is more honest than not knowing them.
However, I do not blame Labour completely for crying foul on this. I think everything would have looked fairer if PBS gave airtime to a journalist who is as equally ‘biased’ as Lou Bondi. As it stands now, PBS gives considerable prime-time air time to a pro-Nationalist journalist, but there’s no anti-Lou on PBS to fill the pro-Labour vacuum.
David, there are two criteria for selecting programmes to be aired on the state’s TV station. One is popularity among viewers (brings in revenue from advertising), while the other is the quality of the programme (educational value, professional production etc). Having a pro-Labour for each pro-Nationalist presenter should never factor in.
I’m sorry that Lou will stop his blog. This blog is promising too http://ilovemalta.tumblr.com/
@David II. The problem is that there are no pro Labour journalists up to standard who can be on PBS even if the standards of PBS went down big time.