GUEST POST: Why the Malta Council for Science and Technology, and Malta, are the ultimate losers in all this
This guest post was written by a specialist in the field of media relations and corporate communication.
Lara Boffa’s appointment as public relations officer at the Malta Council for Science and Technology is a failure, just like the original appointment of her chairman by a government that thought it had its back to the wall, and his reappointment under an administration that promised change and meritocracy.
We’re talking about the championing of mediocrity and opportunism, but the real loser here is the MCST and, on a wider scale, Malta itself.
The MCST is a Maltese council – but science, by its very nature, is international. The context of the MCST is, therefore, international. That of its PRO is, by definition, international too. It does not involve – should not involve – merely sending the occasional press release to the print and broadcast media in Malta.
It follows that the appointee should be up to the task of building and maintaining a positive international image of the MCST. So it is in an international context that we should judge Lara Boffa’s appointment to the not-insignificant post of institutional PRO at the Malta Council for Science and Technology.
The role is particularly challenging, given that the chairmanship is already occupied by a village dentist (and worse than that, one with a persecution complex and a tendency to public tantrums which would be any PRO’s nightmare) with absolutely no research of note to his name, nor any of the personal skills required of such a post. The MCST PRO has to get past that handicap. This is not a value judgement or a political opinion. It is a statement of fact.
Does Lara Boffa understand this? One of her Facebook posts this week was a wisecrack about her chairman brawling outside a bar after a late night out. “It seems the news this weekend was all about SALAMIS and pastizzi.” In her role as PRO of the MCST, her position should have been to defend the institution they both represent. But neither she nor her boss seem to understand that when the Council chairman is caught brawling at 5am outside a bar, the Council itself has a very serious image crisis on its hands.
She didn’t ignore that point. She missed it entirely. That should make us wonder why she thinks she’s capable of carrying out her duties properly.
Part of the remit of the MCST is to advance interest in and understanding of science and technology. That requires the appointee to be up to date with current trends, issues, concerns and, yes, personalities in the world of science, besides knowing and understanding how media and image-making work. It is taken as read that an understanding of correct behaviour is a pre-requisite, though Ms Boffa clearly hasn’t learned that yet, not even from her home background.
The public communication of science and technology – which should be the focus of the MCST’s PRO’s role – is not an easy-peasy job that involves drafting and issuing press releases for domestic consumption. The role demands a grasp of the importance of science and technology, an appreciation of its relevance to people’s lives, an understanding of the gap between those two extremes, and the ability and skills to bridge that gap. Does Ms Boffa know that? Going by the available evidence, she does not.
Ms Boffa has already announced that she checks Maltastar.com several times a day. That is a good thing. Understanding one’s audience is crucial to communicating with it properly. But I suspect that Ms Boffa is an avid reader of Maltastar not as a means of understanding her audience, but simply because that is the audience she belongs to. That is her intellectual level. This means she has a very limited world view which hinders her ability to do her job properly. Again, this is not a value judgement. It is a statement of fact. Maltastar is not a fountain of knowledge. It is a political tool. And it is so poorly written that nobody can take it seriously unless they themselves are of the same standard.
If Ms Boffa’s job is to communicate the MCST’s mission, then it is essential to maintain a broad outlook and to be as well-informed as possible. How broad is her knowledge of science in general? What fields of science interest her in particular? What media does she access on a regular basis? Which international media does she refer to when needing to clarify information at short notice?
Media, here, is meant in the widest possible sense. News media alone are not enough, particularly when Maltastar.com occupies a sizeable share of one’s daily media consumption. Does Ms Boffa read any scientific publications? Which ones? How and why did she make her choice?
These questions are critical. Their answers are the measure of Ms Boffa’s outlook, which defines her ability to deliver what’s expected of her in her role.
If you have any lingering doubts about Ms Boffa’s unsuitability for her post, then picture her in the context of PCST2014 (link below). Take a look at the members of the scientific committee and ask youself whether Ms Boffa can hold her own among them. It is tragic enough already that there is no way her chairman can.
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http://www.pcst-2014.org/index.php/en/pcst-network
You’d expect a PRO of such an institution to be a specialist in communication, languages and to have some grounding in science, not a loud, unsophisticated, pretty face.
I would have to politely disagree with the pretty-face part.
Got to an optician. And anyhow, in this contest it wasn’t intended as a compliment.
My view of the MCST is that it’s a quango created solely to provide jobs for the boys. And girls now it seems.
AlI I know about it, is that the chairman is a drunken buffoon and the PR woman got the job through contacts.
Sums up Malta really.
There is good reason why they want the MCST to be a job for their boys/girls now.
It was created by “Il-Gvern ta’ GonziPN”- So they have a right to ruin it, along with everything.
Actually it was Gonzi himself who started this mess off by appointing a buffoon to chair it.
Agreed. The appointment was an affront to real scientists and technology specialists. Pullicino Orlando is a practising dentist, not a scientist.
I was just wondering. Was this billboard a big fat lie? Business Process Re-engineering Manager. Does she even know what that means? Wasn’t she registering for work earlier this year?
http://daphnecaruanagalizia.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/lara-boffa.jpg
When she was on that billboard, it was during a time when she was doing nothing according to her CV.
Also, according to that CV, I can’t see any role that would have anything to do with Business Process Engineering as she seems to have done IT Support/Administration jobs during her employment history.
Her business degree covers Agile, which are methodologies covering software development and not IT support (which have their own processes such as ITIL and ITSM).
I suspect that as her degree covers Agile, she considers herself a Business Process Engineering Manager. Even though there appears to be no solid experience to back it up. It just seems like a title on a CV.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Business_process_reengineering
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agile_software_development
Of course it was a big fat lie. She has never worked as a BPR manager, nor does she believe in meritocracy.
Another classic example of “Hut barra mill-ilma.”
Ix-xoghol li sar mil-Gvern Nazzjonalista f’dawn l-ahhar 5 snin…. f’temp ta’ erba xhur u nofs, il-gvern Mintoffjan li ghandna tefghu kollu l’bahar.
Well what’s wrong with just smiling, as she does in the PL billboard? Or have we got past the ‘dumb’ stage?
Lara Boffa, as Public Relations Officer at MCST needs to check not only Maltastar.com several times a day but also Daphnecaruanagalizia.com and other blogs as well.
I agree 100% with the guest post. It is written with a lot of sense and knowledge.
But Miss Boffa will not understand it.
I doubt that she is reading any scientific papers because she is currently doing transcripts of her father’s writings and reading DCG’s blog!
The same thing would apply to the multitude of misguided appointments and nominations to other boards.
We shall soon hear of ridiculous and irresponsible decisions taken by boards not qualified for the job and not fit for purpose.
A truly insightful piece. Prosit. If I were in the shoes of Ms. Boffa, this post would send a shiver down my spine and I would prepare for a few sleepless nights.
If you were Lara Boffa, you wouldn’t understand a word of it.
Amongst the resource of games people play I have often experienced a particular one from the same fields, i.e. tripping or disabling competitors to be lifted over the queue . Nothing new.
Did Lara Boffa pass the Sarah Palin test?
Name one newspaper or magazine you read regularly…
http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=YC79WhGdBXM
A member of the national council of science and technology in a post-colonial country where English is one of the official languages and the social and political system is not meritocratic:
http://dst.gov.in/scientific-programme/s-t_ncstc-bio-off.htm
http://www.iscos.org/national-award-dr-manoj-patairiya.htm
Dr. Manoj Patairiya (b. 1961) did his M.Sc. in Zoology (Environmental Biology) and M.Sc. (Tech.) and Ph.D. in Science & Technology Communication. He also did Postgraduate Diploma in Journalism & Mass Communication and M.B.A. in Human Resource Development. At present, Dr. Patairiya is serving as Director (Scientist ‘F’), at National Council for Science & Technology Communication
Conversation between Dr Manoj Patairiya and Malta’s MCST chairman and PRO would be riveting.
PROs in Malta are there to defend there bosses who have a siege mentality.
You send a simple query in Maltese to a government department’s customer (s)care desk and instead of getting a simple straightforward reply to a simple question, you get a hundred excuses and questions written in poor English by a PRO who didn’t even bother to read two simple sentences carefully.
i hope that everyone remembers the promises of Joseph Muscat that he was preaching everyday before the elections.
Think wisely, has he delivered any?
I recall the Minister of Education’s presence Hon. Evarist Bartolo with MUT officials at an MUT conference at the Diplomat Hotel. I was still hard-working and active in education then. What did he think of meritocracy then?
I’ve half a mind to write a self-invited guest post in reply.
Where was the author when a dentist was appointed MCST chairman? Where was everybody?
Some of you had your eyes so full of Gonzi-dust that you couldn’t bring yourself to criticise any decision made under the previous government.
Oh, he was criticised all right. That’s partly why he threw so many tantrums even after he was given his bag of sweets.
STILL you don’t get it.
I’m saying it’s the man who appointed him who should have been criticised, i.e. the Prime Minister at the time. Same goes for many other dubious appointments made by the previous administration.
But it can’t be helped now. Let’s hope Simon Busuttil will be a wiser and better prime minister when his time comes.