Editorial

It has been long since financial trouble dominated world news for so long as over these past few weeks. And with good reason, too, as the magnitude of the financial crisis has this time rocked the system to its foundations. However, in the tumult that the collapse of big names in finance has whipped up, few have stopped to think of the impact the media coverage has had on developments as these began to spill over and reach one country after another, forcing financial authorities to take immediate action to calm nerves and leaving millions of people across the world wondering what was going to happen next.

As governments rushed in to bail out banks and avoid serious repercussions to their economy, and as economists perorated on the flaws of capitalism, the media generally revelled in dramatic reportage that left listeners and readers breathless. When the President of the world's most powerful country, the United States, warned back in September, that is, before the massive bail-out plan was wrapped up, that "our entire economy is in danger", there could be little doubt as to the size of the problem the country was facing. With so much at stake, the media went into overdrive, keeping a pitch of high drama that probably surpassed even that which producers of the best of television sagas are able to concoct.

For days on end, hype-journalism brought fear and uncertainty straight into people's sitting rooms. Ironies were not lacking in the fast-developing financial scenario that followed moves by governments to step in. In Britain, for example, depositors rushed to put their money back in a bank that had first to be rescued by their government. The crisis is far from over yet but when the dust settles, as it usually does, after a storm, the role the media played in it will no doubt be well analysed. A Danish journalism professor has argued that while hype-journalism in sport may be innocent and entertaining, in financial journalism it is extremely problematic.

Where does Malta fit in in all this? It does not. This is only meant as a reflection of the impact the media coverage of the events has had on people and on developments as well.

Malta is not immune to what happens abroad but luckily local banks have not suffered any heavy losses in the crisis and the media acted correctly, even though there are segments that usually specialise in spreading gloom all the time. However, if the island has not been directly hit by the financial crisis, it will most certainly not escape the effects of the recession that is already being felt in some countries. According to financial reports, Europe may be facing its worst recession since the early 1990s.

This is no good news to Malta. One firm has laid off workers and at least two others have gone on a shorter working week. More redundancies may be in the pipeline as demand for the island's products drop. Tourism, too, is expected to feel the pinch as people abroad may decide that this is not exactly the time to take any holiday abroad. The situation can easily be made worse if the media inflate the problems, as has been done in some other countries. Playing into the hands of those who, for political reasons, are prone to feed on adversity will do no good either to the workers they are supposed to protect or to the country.