Slip of the tongues

Magazines, according to the latest trends, have evolved into 'brands', and publishers are pestering the audit companies to find out their "real reach". Indeed, since most of them have online versions (some of which are only accessible against payment), the board of the American Audit Bureau of Circulations has endorsed the concept of an "optional Multimedia Publisher's Statement that would allow publishers to detail print circulation and Abaci-audited Website traffic in a single report".

This issue affects radio and television too; at a time when digitalisation means we can listen to the radio and watch television from our PCs, it makes perfect sense for all media to get their act together and be able to cross over easily from print to sound and/or vision to online and back, as necessary.

This inevitably means that some repetition will occur; a process that is actually necessary when people can access archives and specific programmes "on demand".

NBC meandered out of this one by improvising a new word - Newpeat - and the programming to go with it. Rather than simply re-running repeats of The Office, the station is editing two episodes, back to back, with material that would not have been aired before, to make one-hour 'specials' - the cut-and-paste equivalent of old wine in new wineskins. The press has greeted the word, and the product, with disdain.

Heritage Malta was the catalyst for the visit of a few members of the Terracotta Army, currently on show at the National Museum of Archaeology, Republic Street, Valletta, where they will remain until the end of July. These soldiers give the lie to that somewhat racist adage in Maltese; all their "fired clay" faces have been moulded and crafted separately, and each is therefore unique in his own way. They vary in height, uniform and hairstyle, according to rank.

Upon ascending the throne at the age of 13 (in 246 BC), Qin Shi Huang, who was to become the First Emperor of all China, and gave the country its name, began to work for his mausoleum.

I gleaned all this information from the main Meander programme of this week (TVM, Monday, 10.30 p.m.), another brilliant production by Mariella Pisani Bencini who pulls out all the stops when it comes to doing homework and presenting it to us in delightfully digestible dollops.

On March 25, 1957, the Treaty of Rome, establishing the European Economic Community, was signed by France, Italy, Luxemburg, the Netherlands, Belgium, and the Federal Republic of Germany. From that day, something that is supposed to inspire esprit de corps is so often what instigates discord between its factions.

Take, for example (please do) Eurovision: Stars of Europe, the concert that was to be held yesterday to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the signing of the Treaty. RTBF and VRT organised a spectacular event which featured 30 European celebrities gathered together to celebrate Europe in its designated capital city.

So the European Broadcasting Union arbitrarily decided to confer the Crème de la Crème title on some European artistes, such as Zucchero, The Corrs, Simply Red, Ramazotti, Lordi, Julio Iglesias and Demis Roussos, and completely ignoring others with much more clout, such as Elton John and Luciano Pavarotti.

The local Eurovision club, OGAE Malta, indicated that they - as did we - thought "it's a pity that the press release issued by EBU includes no Maltese artist as a performer for the 'Stars of Europe' event". They lobbed the ball into the figurative lap of PBS such that "[there would be] the presence of Maltese artists in all upcoming large-scale events organised by EBU and EU."

They had hoped that "arrangements should be done so that at least one Maltese performer takes part in this Saturday's Stars of Europe event" since this would have undonbtedly earned Malta untold publicity, as it "was to be broadcast all over Europe via the Eurovision Network", with commentaries in English, French, and Dutch.

Thirty-eight broadcasters from 35 countries, at the time of writing (Thursday night) had confirmed their in-studio participation; like some other countries, however, Malta was only taking the live feed from Eurovision of the Brussels event, held in the Atomium. So, could PBS have done anything about this? Could OGEA, on its own initiative, as the self-styled official voice of the Eurovision Song Contest - which this was not - called for the inclusion of Maltese talent?

Three documentaries worth looking out for are Dun Gorg: Process ta' Beatifikazzjoni, filmed on location in Rome by CAM Productions International. This will be broadcast on April 5, on Net Television.

Mgr Charles Scicluna will take viewers step-by-step through what it takes to become Blessed. An interview with Cardinal Martins, the person in charge of this momentous, glorious part of history, and the story of the miracle wrought with Mr Zammit Endrich are also included.

This will be followed by another documentary, also on Net Television, on April 8. Dawl f'Toroq Godda will present a dramatised version of the early days of MUSEUM, as it is fondly known, warts and all. There will also be several interviews with people who know Dun Gorg.

Tony Micallef will be doing a series for Radio Malta, entitled Mit-Tfulija sal-Qdusija, in collaboration with the Society of Christian Doctrine.

If all this is too cerebral for you, simply decide what music you want played on Magic 91.7; compile a list, if you must, and send it to the address broadcast several times a day on the selfsame station. Why not apply to join the "Magic Music Academy", while you're at it?