Muscat’s personal assistant in move for head of One News

The Labour party’s media officer, Mark Farrugia, who today serves as Opposition leader Joseph Muscat’s personal assistant is to be appointed head of news at Labour TV station One.

Several employees at One News have already been informed of the impending appointment, and preparations are underway inside the newsroom for the handover from Labour MP Evarist Bartolo – appointed this year as Head of News – to Farrugia. The handover is expected to be formalized in August.

Farrugia was one of the first group of journalists in the Labour party media, employed since the 1980s. In the 1990s he was appointed director of information and was the only person from the media team who was employed in a full-time position with the Labour party.

He boasts an excellent memory for political quotes and soundbites, and the unfulfilled government promises that Labour feeds upon in its political arsenal. But Farrugia has always kept a low profile staying away from the cameras, which is why his appointment is a delicate one for the party.

But the move is also a sign that Labour is intensifying its media effort ahead of the next general elections.

The move also opens up a new question as to who Muscat will appoint as PA, and what new role will Evarist Bartolo be given. One party source said that where strategic party matters are concerned, Muscat’s personal assistant “can only be somebody who has been Labour since birth.”

Bartolo will in all probability be shifted onto the management of Labour’s English-language online website maltastar.com, which has now been performing poorly for quite some time. The website is being stewarded by Labour’s president Stefan Zrinzo Azzopardi, and editor Glenn Bedingfield.

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