Journalist interrogated by police over ‘political hate speech’ comment from one year ago

NEWZ.mt editor Michael Kaden was called in for interrogation by the police over a Facebook comment reported to the authorities over ‘political hate speech’.

The comment dates back to July 2023 when Kaden reacted to a Facebook comment by satirical website Bis Serjetà owner Matt Bonanno under a ONE News article posted to the platform.

Kaden commented “CARPETBOMB” under the ONE News article Facebook post which was quoting lawyer Daniel Attard about the Jean Paul Sofia magisterial inquiry without making reference that he was also a Labour MEP candidate.

Attard was quoted by ONE News justifying the government’s stance as if he was an independent legal voice. This provoked several reactions in the comment section of the post.

Government at the time had been insisting the public inquiry into the death was not needed, and that a magisterial inquiry would suffice.

The comment was made shortly after Bonnano himself had been called in by the police over a Facebook post from the previous year about evangelical Christian group River of Love.

“My comment was in fact a reaction to Matt Bonanno’s comment in the context of the highly controversial charges against him. At no point did I refer to the Labour Party’s TV and radio station or to the content of the posting in question. I firmly reject the idea that this comment constitutes political hate speech as has been alleged,” Michael Kaden explained on his website.

Kaden, who has not been charged yet, said he had emphasized this during his interrogation at the Police Headquarters in Floriana on Monday afternoon. Kaden told the police on Monday that he also had “no means of carpet bombing a political television and radio station”.