Behind the scenes and the next step

The wonderful thing about being a journalist is being free to report what you see. Well, that is what everyone thinks, at least. It could not be further from the truth. The worst thing about being a journalist and being a media owner is that you must battle to get the stories and face the music when that story starts to cause heat.

I have said that this election campaign was the calmest of all the elections I have experienced and been reporting on.

But whenever an election is called, it is a veritable nightmare. As a media owner you must accept the abundance of messages or phone calls about reports, titles and angles in a news story that ruffle feathers. If it were not for the fact that this is my life, I would long have given it a miss.

The worst part of it is the accusation that we are working for someone. It has happened ever since I have been active in the media and at election time the finger pointing gets nasty because there is a lot at stake for everyone in the political field and around it.

And then there is the aftermath. Over the years, under every administration, the period after elections tends to be dominated by reprisals. It is a sad and terrible reality. But that is an argument for another time.

Meanwhile, the problem is that none of the political parties, despite the lofty ideals they espouse about freedom of expression and journalists, accept the fact that a news story can embarrass them or uncover their mistakes and flaws.

To make matters worse, there is also the questions of our polls. Over the last two decades, the publication of the MaltaToday surveys has been lauded and derided by winners and losers alike. It is thankless job but we have soldiered on and will continue to do so. The poll results in this electoral campaign were spot on despite all the vitriol that came our way.

I fiercely defend the independence and integrity of our journalists at Mediatoday.  We may not always be perfect but we do strive to offer a platform for fair reporting, analytical news and information. In this election, MaltaToday, together with its sister newspaper Illum, offered a truly independent and objective view of where the political leaders stood and what their parties were proposing. The hundreds of thousands of views our stories received—running into millions over the course of the campaign—online is testament to this media house’s quality journalism.

Trash and myths

I cannot really believe that there are still quite a sizeable number of Nationalists, who believe the trash and myths that are bandied around on social media. Some are in fact promoted by a handful of PN politicians or ex politicians.

I am referring here to the myth that the Labour government fast tracked the citizenship of thousands of third country nationals, mostly Indians, who were then coerced into voting for the Labour Party. It is unbelievable that I would have to mention this rumour, but it is amazing how many people believe it.

The truth is that those Nationalists peddling these claims are in denial. They cannot fathom that real people voted for Labour. You may not agree with Labour, but Nationalists and more importantly those in the party’s administration better start believing that the Labour project is still sexier and workable than the one proposed by the PN.

More importantly, they should accept that the people who voted for Labour are not individuals who were bought out. Yes, the PL did use its power of incumbency to massage disgruntled voters into voting for it but it would be absurd to believe that the 22,000-vote gap is down to this. The PN must accept that there were people who genuinely and unselfishly believed that the Labour Party was the better choice.

Which brings me back to what the PN should be doing now.

After years in Opposition, it is high time that party functionaries stop chasing ghosts and understand that it is not only charisma, good looks and selfies that count but the need for people to believe in a dream that can become true.

Chris Fearne

The question about Chris Fearne’s appointment as foreign minister is not about his ability to fulfil the duties of the role. The question is whether it is appropriate for someone who is facing serious criminal proceedings to be in that role.

Irrespective of the general sentiment that Fearne should have been the last person to be prosecuted over the Vitals-Steward hospitals case, we now have a minister who has to appear in an ongoing court case. It is true that Fearne was vociferous in Cabinet about the dealings taking place behind his back by the big wigs in Joseph Muscat’s administration. It is true that the top team at Steward saw him as a stumbling block and tried to dish out dirt on Fearne. It is also true that after the magisterial inquiry into the hospitals case was concluded, the attorney general and the police failed to probe further and simply charged all those indicated as suspects by the magistrate. It is true Fearne got caught in the crosshairs, charged with crimes that were perpetrated behind his back and which he tried to challenge.

Yet, the fact remains that he is still knee-deep in the judicial process, and anything can happen, including experiencing a guilty outcome.

Fearne had resigned his post as deputy leader and taken a step back from his nomination for EU commissioner in 2024 when he was charged. He hung on to his parliamentary seat but made it a point not to give any comments to the media. He had also refused the prime minister’s offer to reconsider his position about the EU nomination. For his gentlemanly actions, Fearne earned plaudits. And when he did seek re-election, the sympathy vote was strong across both districts where he contested.

But his position today raises some serious questions. Which criminal proceedings should bar a politician from standing in the first place and even becoming a minister? Where do we draw the line?

Not to ask these questions would be a disservice. It is true that the PL has a clear mandate and a comfortable majority but we need to hear a logical explanation about Fearne’s appointment. More importantly we need to know what are the ethical standards that govern our elected representatives. 

Maximising talent

Just like losers need to learn how to accept defeat, winners need to be magnanimous in victory. This country has limited human resources and Robert Abela, now at the helm of Labour’s fourth mandate, should look out for competent folk who do not necessarily share his political views but who can help make the country’s administration better. The success of every government is the ability to harness capability and embrace it. The prime minister must resist the calls from within for reprisals and exclusivity. He needs to be prime minister for all—those who voted for him, those who did not and those who are unmoved by politics.