The excellent letter by Major John Schembri, criticising with precision where The Times erred with its report on elite soldiers' requirements (February 18), brings to light an even bigger problem. It is that of the Maltese print and broadcast media's ever-increasing signs of attempts to cover up sheer incompetence in so many specific specialisation areas through certain clearly visible (to those who are attentive and smart enough to see them through) traits.
The list of these traits is increasing by the day. First and foremost is sheer arrogance in the way the so-called right to know is being interpreted by these same media. There are far too many editors and journalists who are equating this presumed right to know as giving them the right to be forceful with endless questions, to feel offended when someone or even a VIP refuses to answer questions, or to then often manipulate such refusal for their own (often political) agendas. And let's be clear about this, even the so-called (mainly English-speaking) local papers reek with clearly manifest signs of their agendas.
The questioning then becomes even worse when, especially in certain PBS programmes, and certain papers' full-page interviews, it is accompanied by an often arrogant, ill-mannered and disrespectful persistence that show signs of "unless you agree with what I'm implying in my question then I will make it clear that I am implying that you have something to hide or that you are wrong and I am right".
On top of this are the often clearly visible signs of sheer ignorance or incompetence in many areas which many journalists deal with in their reports. The problem may stem from the fact that far too many people are becoming "journalists" before being successful at anything else in life. Areas where this reality is so clearly visible include coverage of events in the economic, banking, finance, general business and now, increasingly, matters that have anything to do with public finance, the military and immigration matters.
What the media in Malta seem to have gone through is a process whereby, in consequence to the cut-throat competition that has come about in recent years, rather than producing better, and more specialist and objective coverage, they have found solace in banding together both organisationally (including in pressurising lobbies or professional organisations) and through ever-more clearly manifested signs of an attitude of "We have power, we are the fifth estate in the land and we will wield that power". And anyone who is sincerely aware of what power really implies must be aware that things like manipulation - of whatever, events, people, cronyism - and arrogance simply should have no place in it.
If one wants to be philosophical about all this then it is easy for all of us, and the exercise should not be undertaken only by intellectuals, to simply withdraw into a daily exercise of being very, very selective in the newspapers we read, the radio stations we hear at whatever times of day or the TV programmes we watch in the evening. We can dispense with the so-called "big pull" trash that certain fixture programmes, which have literally taken over PBS, Net and One TV, and some of the bigger selling daily newspapers, and go for serious stuff like RAI's news coverages, Porta a Porta, Ballaro', and others, like the weekly Il-Ġens, like Aldo Forbice's evening daily on radio Zapping etc.
This, of course, is probably, to so many Maltese and our media houses, very much whistling in the wind.
Within a context of what I have here, perhaps, repeatedly described as manipulation, I do of course nurture much doubt as to whether these views will see the light of print/day but then, of course, I would be very happy to be proved wrong.