James A. Tyrrell, Larne, County Antrim, N. Ireland
The great Gozo airstrip scam
For a long time now I have suspected that there was an orchestrated effort on the part of a few individuals to give the impression that a large number of people were in favour of an airstrip on the island of Gozo. The obvious indicator of this initially, was the fact that every time the matter was raised the same small band of supporters appeared in the papers.
My attention was first drawn to a story entitled, Seaplane Will Not Resolve Access Problems - Gozo Tourism Association which appeared in the Gozo News on January 31, 2007. What raised my suspicions regarding this story was the number of viewings it received. It's not exactly what you would class as an important breaking story yet it has so far received almost 240,000 viewings. Not totally impossible in the given time I suppose, until you realise that the majority of these viewings took place in a matter of weeks.
When another story appeared in the Gozo News entitled, It Seems Unbelievable That Gozo Does Not Have A Working Airport, on March 8, I decided to test my suspicions. Now again this is not the type of story that is going to attract worldwide attention especially when you consider that the majority of the world population doesn't even know where Gozo is. Someone who thought the Maltese government should build an airstrip for his wife, as she had to endure a crossing from Gozo to Malta in gale force 8, supposedly wrote the story. Personally I'd rather be in a ship than a small plane in those conditions!
Anyway, I decided to push a few buttons and see what would happen. Sure enough, as the old saying goes, if you give them enough rope they'll hang themselves, and this little group have ended up well and truly hung. From nothing this story started to receive a lot of viewings. What do I mean by a lot? Well between publication March 8 and June 2 it had received somewhere in the region of 34,000 viewings. By Thursday, June 4, after I started backing them into a corner that number had risen to 84,000. That's over 1,000 viewings per hour, 25,000 viewings per day!
But it didn't stop there. By the following day this number had risen to 92,000 and a day later, on June 6, the number was up to over 101,000. By Sunday, June 7 the figures had reached 115,192, Monday, June 8, 128,255, and Tuesday, June 9, 128,768. I could go on listing figures here but let's just say that between Tuesday and Saturday the figure rose to 128,854. So, as you can see the viewings basically slowed to a halt from Tuesday with just 86 hits in five days or 17 hits per day, quite a difference from 25,000!
It would appear that the entire world is falling over itself with interest regarding an airstrip somewhere they have never heard of! Oh, and out of these 128,854 people interested in this breaking news story how many left comments? Just four actually, and all of those are against the idea. What then does all this go to prove? Well the answer to that is quite simple really. The vast majority of people from Malta and Gozo and indeed tourists like myself prefer Gozo just the way it is, peaceful and airstrip free. That's why we go there. However a small, and I emphasise the word small, group exists who have a vested interest in further destroying the island's historical and environmental infrastructure. This group want you to believe that their cause is a just one and is of interest to many, so for the past week or so they have been taking it in turns to artificially increase the apparent number of viewings for this story thereby giving the indication of an increasing number of interested people. Up until Tuesday anyway, when they must have decided that they had enough and the "world" stopped viewing the article! Sad people really.
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James A. Tyrrell
Jun 17th 2009, 23:24
Part 2:
I like the ‘most viewed items’ section in Gozo news but it is very easy to manipulate and doesn’t require a viral computer. I did this myself and I did it for a reason to see if the airstrip supporters would take the bait and increase their story. They did as I reported. The important point here is that if I increased the viewings of a certain story by 1000 the other story increased by over 1000. It was like a game, until the other side got fed up and increased their figures to over 128,000! Once they realised I had stopped, they stopped. So quite a choosy viral computer then!
Lets just say that the only important people in the Gozo airstrip saga are the Gozitan people themselves. If the people of Gozo support the idea of an airstrip then I will support them 100%. I doubt however if this will happen and I would predict that you would need to be an idiot to invest in such a loss-producing project.
James A. Tyrrell
Jun 17th 2009, 23:23
Part 1:
Can I just say that I appreciate Mr. Wetton’s comments here and everything he says is true with regard to him having contacted me. I do find the use of the term "Conspiracy Theory" a bit strange though. I have always thought of this term as a means to try and belittle the truth. Lets refer to someone’s opinions as a conspiracy theory and then we can laugh at them.
What I reported was pure and simple fact. Mr Wetton points out himself that the top stories at one point were to do with the controversial Hondoq Marina proposal. These stories grew at a steady rate due to the strong feelings of people on Gozo and Malta and indeed around the world regarding Hondoq. What these stories never did at any point was to increase in their viewing figures by 25,000 in a 24-hour period. The stories I wrote about did just that yet the reason I was given was that this was either normal, or down to some attack by a viral computer, whatever that is.
Michael Wetton
Jun 16th 2009, 21:35
The Gozo news would like to clarify this matter.
We received this same letter from Mr Tyrrell a number of days ago. After reading it we immediately contacted Mr Tyrrell and told him that as far as any of our records show there was absolutely nothing to substantiate his claims regarding his "Conspiracy Theory", indeed we also conveyed many reasons which implied exactly the opposite.
Mr Tyrrell also contacted us months ago about the same issue and saying we should do something about it, our response at that time was exactly the same.
I must also point out that prior to this point the top stories had been on the subject of Hondoq, which Mr Tyrrell strongly supports. I must also point out that shortly before we received this letter from Mr Tyrrell, we received email from another strong supporter of Hondoq who supplied us with the same figures that Mr Tyrrell supplied in this letter and questioned their validity, we again responded that there was nothing untoward.
Best regards,
Michael Wetton
Editor
www.gozonews.com
Paul Borg
Jun 16th 2009, 21:17
Well said M Zammit. The only people who really need air transport are medical emergencies and Gozitans wanting to catch a plane at Luqa. Almost all Maltese and most Gozitans who do the crossing need to take their cars across. The remainder are either students or tourists. The average student would never afford a regular plane ride, and tourists seek out Gozo for its leisurely pace and tranquility.
That means that not only would most of them actually prefer the crossing by ferry, but the destruction of countryside and archaeology, combined with the noise of a plane landing and taking off several times a day would be yet another thing to put off more tourists than it would attract, just like the Chambray, Ta' Cenc and Hondoq projects and all the cranes, noise and dust that accompany the high-season tourist/building season.
James A. Tyrrell
Jun 16th 2009, 20:53
Part 2 @ J de Brincat. What about all these students who have to get to their lectures, are they going to fork out for a flight every day or do you expect the parents to do that so they can have an extra 30 minutes in bed?
I agree with you that a referendum should be held and that only Gozitans should be allowed to vote. Why? Because the Gozitan people are the ones who would be affected most by the constant drone of planes taking off and landing. I personally would never use a plane to reach Gozo. If a helicopter service was re-instated I would probably use it again, but actually I quite enjoy the ferry. I think myself that the least disruptive option and the one, which would be of most benefit to the local construction industry, would be a bridge or tunnel.
James A. Tyrrell
Jun 16th 2009, 20:53
Part 1 @ J de Brincat. Don’t you think it is selfish to deprive the people of Gozo of the peace and quiet they presently enjoy? What exactly do I mean by ‘leave Gozo as it is’ and for who? Well sir what I mean is what I said, ‘Leave Gozo as it is’, I wasn’t writing in code! Gozo is a lovely quiet little island enjoyed equally by the Gozitan people, the Maltese who come for the weekends and tourists.
You say that Gozo would benefit from an airstrip. How?
I agree that a better connection would be of benefit to the island but that would certainly not be an airstrip. Are you saying that if an airstrip was build all the Gozitan people who presently use the ferry would switch to the plane? Would the fare be the same as the ferry? How many 12 seater planes would you need to accommodate all these people? Would they be able to take their cars on board as carry on luggage or would you expect them to spend even more money on taxi’s, buses or car hire on Malta?
M. Zammit
Jun 16th 2009, 19:49
Dear Mr Debrincat,
Would you kindly tell us what your interest in the matter is so that we'll know the validity of your comment.
Also please tell us if you think the airfare would be affordable for gozitan workers who have to cross everyday to get to work in Malta and where you propose the plane from Gozo will land and if the location you mention would entail that gozitans would have to take additional transportation to get to their workplace from the point of landing. How many trips would need to be made to bring over the workforce that would need to use it? Do you think it is feasable compared to the ferry? Are there alternatives that you suggest or do you only propose the airstrip? Is the scope of the airstrip for use by Gozitans or tourists?
Maltes cross over with the ferry because they like to take their car to use in Gozo. Do you really think that there is a need for an airstrip?
Galea. L
Jun 16th 2009, 19:28
J de Brincat
By the way, why do you think that it is only Gozitans who should have a say in the referendum?
This is Malta and Gozo is part of Malta.
Galea. L
Jun 16th 2009, 19:27
J de Brincat
Those who want an airstrip simply do not care a hoot about the environment and the Roman archeological remains on the site.
As for crossing every day, do you really want us to believe that all those who do so would start using air transport?
Do you think that the people are so naive de Brincat?
J de Brincat
Jun 16th 2009, 16:32
Dear Mr James, in my opinion, you and all those with similar thinking like you are all
selfish. What exactly do you mean by saying (leave Gozo the say it is) and for who?
I am not so much in favour of an airstrip, although Gozo would definately benefit from it,
especially if it is built long enough for these low cost airlines to be able to land on Gozo.
But we definately need a much better connection between these islands come summer and
winter. You only cross to Gozo during your visits, thing of all those Gozitans that have to cross all year round irrispective of the servere whether including all those students that have to wake up so early to catch the early crossing and be on time for their lectures.
In my opinion a local referendum should be held once and for all with one simple question
what does one prefer a Bridge a Tunel or the way it is now boat crossing.
What I mean by a local referendum, only Gozitans are allowed to vote and not including all those Maltese holding their I.D. card with a Gozitan address for their crossing convience (low fare).