Should the media name and shame?

The proposal made by the Labour Party's media ethics committee not to publish the names of people charged in court before they are found guilty, is a just and Christian proposal which should have been adhered to always, or at least since we became aware of its unjust consequences.

Although we realised that it is not fair to name a person of an alleged crime before he is found guilty, the media continued to carry on with its naming, little realising the trauma created and the harm that could be done to the person and his family, especially if he is then found innocent after all.

We should feel ashamed to allow, in this day and age, such unethical and unchristian behaviour. This should stop not only among Labour journalists but throughout the general media.

A person should not be named and smeared when not knowing for certain of his guilt, worse still when he is then not found guilty. In fact, we say that the accused is presumed innocent until he is found guilty.

I'm sure that if some journalist's relative got involved in some alleged scandal, the journalist would do his utmost to keep the details a secret. Even public and influential figures bend over backwards to hush up any misdemeanours or even crimes connected with members of their families. We have seen this happen many a time.

I expect the Church to offer her opinion and encourage both parties to even legislate in this sense.

Some time ago, a teenager from Cospicua got pregnant and because of the many problems and difficulties the poor kid found herself in, when she delivered the baby, she put it laway somewhere beside her home, in the street.

When the poor baby was found and her young mother uncovered, the news was splashed on the front of some papers, with her name and place where she lived.

This was sheer lack of charity that surely our Lord would not have approved of.

Well, at that time I decided to write a letter to a local paper protesting about this attitude and the fact that in a similar case where another girl of a prominent person was involved, not only were the girl's name and address not mentioned but even the story - which was ready to come out on the front pages on certain dailies - was hushed up as if it never happened, by orders from high authorities.

At the time I suggested either for the media to name all people be they poor and ordinary or rich and prominent, or better still not to name anyone at all. I remember Leħen is-Sewwa, the church's voice, coming out in favour of not naming anyone before sentencing by the court. And this is as it should be.