The Lie(s) of The Land

Marni Nixon did not acquire her 'ghostess with the mostess' nickname for nothing. Throughout her career, the lady born Margaret McEathron dubbed the voices of Margaret O'Brien (The Secret Garden, 1949); Deborah Kerr (The King and I, 1956 and An Affair to Remember, 1957) , Natalie Wood (West Side Story, 1961); Audrey Hepburn (My Fair Lady, 1964); and so forth.

The praxis at the time indicated that her name was not on the credit rolls of the films - she began to be accredited when the films were released on VHS, a decade later.

This indicated that the camera does, on occasion, lie - and not just when images are photo-shopped. And the line between public relations and cheating grows ever thinner.

"Putting on a show" was also the reason why, in the Beijing Olym-pics, a similar case of dubbing took place.

Seven-year-old Yang Peiyi won the right to sing Hymn to the Motherland in a grueling compe-tition. This happened after a 10-year old who had all but been chosen, was considered "too old" for the role. But someone from the Politburo, who was watching the rehearsal, decided that she wasn't "photogenic" (read 'cute') enough - and, worse - her teeth were crooked, too. So nine-year-old Lin Miaoke, no stranger to the camera, was brought in to lip-synch the words.

Looksism raised its ugly head again. But all that Beijing Games spokesman Wang Wei had to say was: "The song was pre-recorded... The artistic directors just picked the best voice and the best performer." Someone else called it "a perfect compromise".

Lin Miaoke subsequently basked in the praise for her singing. Could it be that no one told her it was not her voice that was going to be broadcast? Yang Peiyi simply said that she was "proud to have been chosen to sing at all".

A Chinese friend of mine says they put the label 'vase' on people who are there for ornamental purposes only. My heart ached for all three girls.

There is also the tiny matter of whether the gymnasts were old enough (16 years old in the Olympic Year) to compete in the games, in its report of November 3 of last year, Xinhua (http://www.hb.xinhuanet. com) had identified He Kexin as one of "10 big new stars", giving her age as 13. This page no longer exists. Yet Zhang Hongliang, an official with China's gymnastics delegation at the games, said the report was "definitely" an error.

The FIG (International Gymnastics Federation) accepts a passport as proof positive of a gymnast's eligibility and the IOC (International Olympic Committee) goes along with this. And the Chinese gymnasts have these.

Frankly, I was not impressed with the way local newscasters and sportscasters handled these issues - they appeared to be more concerned with giving us lists of medal-winners and trivia that they culled from sources to which we, too, have access. Meanwhile, the sad news is that two more journalists have been killed in the line of duty; Alexander Klimchuk, a photojournalist working for Russian news agency Itar-Tass, and the owner of independent photo agency Caucasus Press Images, and Grigol Chikhladze, a reporter for Russian Newsweek. They were covering the troubles in Russia.

Locally, we mourn Joe Mercieca, lecturer, journalist and broadcaster. They don't make many like him any more.

The Broadcasting Authority, in collaboration with the National Council for the Maltese Language, has commissioned a committee to oversee the proper use of the vernacular in broadcasting. Is it possible that there was not one single woman who was deemed eligible for this important venture?

The ultimate aims of this committee - as had been of similar ones preceding it and no doubt of others that will follow - will be to ascertain that the present mauling of the language will be halted. This means, presumably, that a karkur will no longer be a sandli bla wara. Crawls for news bulletins, scrolls for recipes, and advertisements will no longer make us wince; numbers will be said in Maltese, and correctly; names of towns and villages will retain their article when extant... and more.

I note there is a deadline of four months within which these changes must be set in motion. Will the committee be tying the persistently guilty to chairs and force-feeding them gobbets of the Miklem? Will the people (Maltese vases) chosen for their looks, rather than for what they have between their ears, by producers who purchase air-time, continue getting away with murdering the language because they are not 'official broadcasters'?

At this point I would like to have included something that has nothing to do with the Maltese language - a list of proper names printed phonetically, so that, in the same news bulletin, we would not have the likes of 'Sarkozy' pronounced three different ways.

I note with interest that the management committee of Education 22 is currently inviting individuals and organisations to submit proposals for programmes on the eponymous station. Anyone who is interested may pitch these (inclusive of editorial, production and financial plans) to Head, Education 22, Mile End Road, Hamrun, not later than noon on Wednesday.

All things considered, I think that this is cutting it very, very fine. Not many people have enough time leftover from their day jobs in a fortnight, to come up with a plan, chase after sponsors, find a producer, and do the thousand-and-one things connected with a workable plan.

One of the requisites is "Skilful use of the Maltese language in the scripts", and another is "(a) guarantee that content will be free of stereotypes especially gender, racial and age stereotypes."

television@timesofmalta.com