[WATCH] Opposition leader visits Mediatoday offices

Opposition leader Simon Busuttil meets MediaToday newsroom

Opposition leader Simon Busuttil paid a visit to the Mediatoday offices, sitting down with journalists from the Illum and MaltaToday newspapers for a discussion on a number of topics, including the interaction between the media and the political class.

Busuttil said that as a politician, he had to strike a balance between respecting the media’s autonomy and maintaining a good relationship with media outlets. Politicians, he said, are the ones on the other side of the microphone, faced with difficult questions, and the onus is on the politician to know how to interact and communicate with members of the media. 

On a personal level, Busuttil said that his personal interactions with individual journalists improved significantly once he accepted that they were only doing their jobs, leading to a newfound respect from both sides of the microphone.

Managing editor Saviour Balzan raised the issue of the Opposition’s role within the political sphere.

“In certain circumstances, I feel you are being overly aggressive,” he said. “I think you can raise the important issues and make your point without being so aggressive.”

“There are those that say we are too aggressive and those that say that we are not aggressive enough,” Busuttil replied. “We are faced with plenty of issues that are non-issues and that we ignore in order to remain focused.”