Message to Times of Malta: at least have the basic journalistic courtesy to acknowledge that you found out through this website

This website always acknowledges stories on Times of Malta and provides links and screen-shots where they are commented on and discussed here.

But does Times of Malta return the courtesy? No. It reads on this website that former Libyan PM Ali Zeidan is living under armed guard in Malta, ‘confirms’ the information, and then reports the confirmation – without saying anything about where and how they got the news this morning.

It’s not that I mind on a personal level – far from it. It’s just that it is so very wrong and unprofessional. The whole point of a newspaper is to serve its readers, not to protect the egos of those who work for it.

I now expect Times of Malta to do its duty with the massive resources at its disposal and investigate this messy business thoroughly, starting with a challenge to the prime minister about why he lied to the country and why his people lied to Times of Malta journalists back in March.

Times of Malta might also wish to investigate its own journalist Kurt Sansone to find out once and for all whether he really is an unwitting stooge and conduit for a government that wishes to mislead the public with false information, or whether he is in cahoots with them. Incidentally, I happen to think it’s the former: that Sansone has a perfectly understandable predisposition to trust the politicians he supports, while they abuse of this trust and feed him false information for dissemination to the public through Malta’s most influential newspaper.