Veteran journalist heading police media relations unit

Veteran journalist Brandon Pisani has been tasked with leading the police Community and Media Relations Unit (CMRU) after the unit was left without an appointed point of contact for a number of years.

Pisani took up the position this week after being seconded from the Public Broadcasting Services, where he worked in the newsroom since December 2013.

Pisani first joined Union Print in 1995, working as a journalist for l-Orizzont and It-Torca from 1995 to 2008, before moving to Favourite Channel and then to One News.

In the past, the corps had intermittently appointed police inspectors to spearhead the CMRU, but for some years now, the unit had remained leaderless. Media organisations often complained at the lack of a designated point of contact within the corps as well as to how long the unit took to respond to newsroom’s queries.

Pisani told MaltaToday he looked forward to work closely with all newsrooms on improving the CMRU service. “I have been a journalist for many years, and have often been specifically tasked with reporting crime. This gives me a leg-up as to knowing what a newsroom’s needs and priorities are and as to how to go about delivering that service.”

Pisani said all departmental heads in the corps will be informed of his appointment within the coming days and said he hoped to meet newspaper editors in the coming weeks to determine their concerns.