Top comment of the week – well, more of a guest post, really
This was sent in by Matthew S.
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The press in Malta fuels the idea that facts are just opinions. Journalists fail to realise that things that people say are not newsworthy in and of themselves
This is what usually happens in Malta.
On Sunday, Simon Busuttil says ‘The Prime Minister has broken his promise’. Newspapers use that as a headline and publish an almost verbatim report of his speech.
On Monday, the same newspapers quote Joseph Muscat in a headline, say, ‘That promise was never made’. A verbatim report of the prime minister’s speech follows.
At this point, facts become opinions and it comes down to whom the readers believe.
This is lazy and terrible journalism. It is facts, context, analysis and logical conclusions which make a story complete and worth publishing.
For example, a few days ago The Economist published a report about ‘the Great (debt) Hole of China’. This was neither said by a Chinese politician nor by a Sinophobe. It was a conclusion reached by a journalist after careful analysis of the facts. Comments and denials by Chinese politicians are only carried to flesh out the article and to give those involved the right of reply.
In our case, this is how it should go.
THE PRIME MINISTER RETRACTS HIS PROMISE TO RESIGN
A few months ago, the prime minister repeatedly and publicly promised that he would resign if the new power station is not built on time. He is now breaking that promise.
In parliament last night, Joseph Muscat got entangled in a semantic web in an effort to try and convince people that he never made that promise. He ignored the fact that when asked by television presenter Reno Bugeja if he would resign if the power station fails to materialise on time, he replied in the affirmative and instead latched on to a reply he gave to the same question during a political activity in which Muscat only said that he would take personal responsibility for failure. He is now implying that ‘taking responsibility’ is not the same as resigning even though at the time it was clear that he was referring to a resignation.
Meanwhile, the Leader of the Opposition Simon Busuttil called Muscat out on his spin. He said that prime ministers should be trustworthy. He also said that when prime ministers break promises or tell lies, they denigrate their office. Moreover, he said that if prime ministers cannot be trusted with keeping public promises, they cannot be trusted with the secret and sensitive information that prime ministers often have to handle.
This newspaper believes that the prime minister should not resign because there are no good alternatives to Joseph Muscat. Louis Grech is gravely ill. Manuel Mallia is too authoritarian. George Vella is way past his prime and Konrad Mizzi is too busy trying to piece back together the roadmap which the Chinese have just ripped up.
We think that the prime minister should apologise instead for making a promise he never intended to keep. He should then come clean about his dealings with China and the other stakeholders in the power station project. All contracts signed and agreements made need to be published and discussed in parliament.
The public has the right to know what deals are being carried out in its name, what the costs are and what the repercussions will be. The power generation plan is still shrouded in secrecy. This lays the government and the business individuals involved wide open to accusations of corruption, which is both unacceptable and untenable in a country which belongs no longer to the Third World but to the European Union.
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That feels complete and a story worth publishing.
Now we need a similar article about Air Malta. On Sunday, Times of Malta published an article quoting the former CEO saying ‘I left Air Malta in a good state’. On Monday, Times of Malta published an article quoting the current CEO saying ‘Air Malta was left in a bad state’.
How about a story with facts, figures, graphs, explanations and logical conclusions? The state of a company is not a matter of opinion but of fact.
Speeches, unless of historical significance (“I have a dream…”) are rarely newsworthy in and of themselves and even then, their significance is probably only noted with hindsight. Off the cuff comments, Facebook posts, Tweets and so on, unless used ironically (Karmenu Vella: “I voted for the EU”) even less so.
People say all kinds of odd things. Quoting different people saying completely opposite things doesn’t add anything to a reader’s understanding of a situation. It is significant context and analysis that can turn a comment into a news story.
While on the subject of news stories, can we avoid generating fake crises, especially when there is so much of real importance to analyse? The hounding of Archbishop Paul Cremona out of a job was totally uncalled for.
The same newspaper which would have pounced on the archbishop had he said anything against gay marriage criticised him precisely for not saying much against it. I guess they didn’t have enough ‘Gay marriage is immoral’ (archbishop) ‘Gay marriage is great’ (MGRM) headlines. Realistically, what can an archbishop do?
Even his resignation doesn’t sound like top news unless the newspaper is The Catholic Herald or Leħen is-Sewwa. A bishop has few worldly powers and pretending otherwise is futile.
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Excellent piece – there is a significant need and possibly also a strong niche for this kind of journalism (and consequently newspaper or news website)
Xi hadd qam u qajjem lil hafna nies kmieni dalghodu.
http://www.timesofmalta.com/mobile/view/20141022/local/government-says-it-has-no-indication-that-the-budget-risks-breaching-eu-rules.540676
Ried ikun cert illi hadd ma jaqra l-headlines ta’ dan l-artiklu kif kien ilbierah fl-ghaxija li kien isostni illi l-Brussels ser jitolbu revizjoni tal-budget bhala stat ta’ fatt.
Team up Daphne, and let’s get some valid periodical.
Spot on. I particularly hate it when the newspapers report on an article published in the international press simply by reproducing it or paraphrasing, without any analysis or comment.
‘…How about a story with facts, figures, graphs, explanations and logical conclusions?….’
Maybe because ‘top’ journalists and editors still can’t distinguish between LNG and HFO.
This blog can and does.
http://www.maltatoday.com.mt/news/national/1000000043/muscat_underlines_need_for_highend_properties#.VEdrWyKUdmM
Spot on.
Daphne, I know this is out of context, but it has been intriguing me for some time.
“In the second half, we showed some pride and would of scored more goals if it hadn’t been for their goalkeeper”.
Is ‘would of scored’ in lieu of ‘would have scored’ colloquial. I know it’s not correct English, but I’ve seen it used so often in newspapers, that I am doubting myself.
Could you please explain.
[Daphne – ‘Would of’ is an aural/vocal corruption, rendered into writing, of ‘would’ve’, which is itself a contraction of ‘would have’. It is, of course, completely wrong to write it that way, but in spoken English, ‘would of’ and ‘would’ve’ are practically identical in some accents, hence the error.]
I wish ‘reporter’ could regain its original and literal meaning of someone who mindlessly reports what they see and hear. That’s all we’ve got.
Thank you, Matthew S. But we don’t have journalists. We have reporters who just report what they heard.
May I draw your attention to the National Book Festival Programme:
http://www.maltatoday.com.mt/ui/files/Programm_NBC_EnglishOutlinesWeb%20(1).pdf
Just look who is speaking at the event on Wednesday 12th November at 20:30. I can’t think of many people bearing that name. In fact, I can think of only one Meinrad Calleja.
…but this is precisely why most of us read Daphne Caruana Galizia’s notebook…..well done, Daphne, and thanks.
Times of Malta reports today that Malta has issued the highest amount of residence permits in the EU last year when compared to its population.
If this is so, how can the government continue to sustain the argument that Malta has one of the highest rates of refugees, given its population?
How right Matthew is. It is clear to me and has been for the last 3 or 4 years that journalism in Malta is defunct. Reporting what someone says is not journalism, analysing and commenting on it is.
Muscat is plainly playing with words. The undeniable fact is that he tied the reduction of the electricity bills to the building of a new power station.
It is totally dishonest and devious of the Prime Minister to now claim that his pledge was linked soley to the reduction of the bills, by any means, when all of Malta, including Reno Bugeja, understood differently.
It was pretty obvious that by the time China joined the fray the plant’s completion deadline wasn’t going to be met.
Muscat could have taken the opportunity to claim that the Chinese investment was so advantageous that it justified postponing the building of the power station given that the reduction of bills pledge would remain unchanged.
It’s baffling how the great schemer let this window of opportunity pass him by and persisted with his on-track lie.
Yes but….
I disagree. That is what an editorial/leading article should look like, not necessarily a news report.
The Economist would use that tone in its opinion pieces (ex: Bagehot or Charlemagne) and, much more forcefully, in its editorials. But in its first few pages where it gives snippets of news from around the world, it would not use this tone.
It would say simply that x and y happened, which could lead to A and B. It always leaves the words ‘this newspaper believes’ for its editorials.
Of course, Maltese newspapers leave a lot to be desired when it comes to analysis and factual breakdown of events. Furthermore, Times of Malta is giving Labour a way too easy time in government (forget Malta Today; that’s a lost cause).
Journalists here in Malta should grow some balls, ask questions that are more incisive, and stop letting Muscat get away with wisecracks and his stupid smirks.
It’s becoming like the Golden Years where just about every ‘news’ item started ‘Il-Ministru qal’ except that now it is not only TVM but even the newspapers.
Thank you, Matthew, for finally stepping out and saying what has been hounding me all of my adult life; that no one has the balls to say things as they really are but just reporting the lies that are said, bewildering us all the time.
So Enemalta, Shanghai Power Electric, Shell, SOCAR and the Maltese investors have a finger in the pie for building the new gas power station. My wonder is how they are going to the share the profits from the 9c6 per unit.
This country never had any journalists, only average anchors and reporters