Bleak hows

Doing his best to remain inconspicuous, if not actually incognito, Marco Simeon, director of institutional and international relations at RAI, was a member of the audience at the finals night of the Malta Eurovision Song Contest.

Ron and Elaine had to read an atrocious script full of bastardised words- Tanja Cilia

Meanwhile, the chefs de mission of Azerbaijan, Cyprus, France, Hungary, Ireland, Italy and Turkey were also among the illustrious foreign guests present at this event.

This was a year for firsts. For the first time, there was a live transmission in the host country through the EBU network. Foreign artistes present included Anggun, who will represent France in Baku; Ell and Nicky winners of Eurovision 2011; and Sinful, the 2012 Switzerland participant artists for Eurovision.

It is worth noting that all of the above is testimony to the behind-the-scenes hard work that has resulted in increased credibility and visibility of PBS in the international broadcasting sphere.

Another point worth noting is that late last year, a staff member from PBS was elected member of the EBU Finance Group.

Meanwhile, Ron and Elaine had to read an atrocious script full of bastardised words. This, together with the ad-libbing, wrought havoc with the language. It is neither elitist nor nationalistic to expect proper usage of the vernacular. Stejġ, indeed.

There was also the usual stale jokes, two of which (the hackneyed wisecrack to a tall person, and the one about phones that ring when they are switched off) were definitely off colour.

Enough, and more, has been said about the amount of make-up Ron was wearing, and the expensive imitation of rubber gloves modelled by Elaine.

However, I would have loved to see a big screen behind the presenters, occasionally tuned in to social sites such as Linked In, Twitter and Facebook, featuring the said comments. It would have livened up the proceedings, which tended to get boring. This would have been a nod to the power of social media as well as an indication that the organisers of this show can take criticism.

Kudos to Kurt Calleja, who has also gained considerable popularity as part of the cast of Déjà-Vu.

Unfortunately, some people thought it was a compliment to tell Claudia Faniello she bears more than a passing resemblance to Kim Kardashian.

Despite the heartbreak of narrowly missing out on being the Maltese representative in the 2012 Eurovision Song Contest, Faniello had reason to celebrate as she shot to the number one spot in the Maltese iTunes chart, even beating Adele’s Set Fire to the Rain.

• Each time any listenership and viewership statistics are published, the stations in pole positions flaunt the results.

These, of course, are never due to one broadcaster, but to a combination of factors (not least that there might have been nothing else worth watching or listening to).

It is therefore reasonable and fair to expect the ‘thank you’ blurbs to be in the identifiable voices of those who make PBS what it is – and not just one voice.

Ironically, it seems less people now want to be brainwashed further by the two political stations, exponents of which sometimes even manage to turn a happening such as the recent incident on an Arriva bus, into a political issue.

• Mark Camilleri and author Alex Vella Gera have been acquitted in the censorship case by the Appeals Court. Basically this means that, besides double-entendres in certain televised dramas, even the local literary scene may now consider itself free (bereft?) of self-censorship, as well as threat of prosecution.

Be that as it may, I had come away with a feeling of ‘you wish’ when I had read the story that had created all the brouhaha, which, for those who have no inkling of what it was about, involved the mental peregrinations and pyrotechnics of a sex-starved nincompoop who thinks he is oh-so-macho… and consequently brought down colas upon the head of student editor Camilleri and Vella Gera on charges of having published obscenities and offended public morals in Realtà.

I prefer to think of this as a test case, which will give us the likes of Stitching for our predilection. Not everyone has the wit and wisdom of Ray Calleja; some confuse crassness with satire.

One good thing that might come of this is the following-through of Culture Minister Mario de Marco’s ideas, wherein he announced his interest in the reintroduction of political satire for carnival.

Just for the record, Iranian courts have sentenced Saeed Malekpour and Vahid Asghari, two bloggers, to death for ‘spreading corruption’ (no ‘allegedly’ about it). Government security forces have arrested four journalists - Shahram Manouchehri, Sahamedin Bourghani, Parastoo Dokouhaki, and Marzieh Rasouli, in the lead-up to the nation’s March elections. Not one local newscast writer thought of comparing and contrasting the two situations.

Considering the fuss kicked up about SOPA, PIPA, ACTA and related issues, this was a great disappointment to those of us who hope that political leanings and liaisons will not have a bearing on how facts are portrayed.

• Arthur Caruana has joined Magic with a daily drive-time show, from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m.. He has avoided the temptation of calling it Arthur’s Themes and has chosen, instead, the prosaic Arthur’s Drive.

Meanwhile, if you are allowed to listen to good music radio at work Bay Retro is online at www.bay.com.mt as well as on DAB+ digital radio. It plays hits from the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s.

Nisġa is being broadcast on Campus FM on Wednesdays at 7.30 p.m., with a repeat on Thursdays at 9.30 a.m.

television@timesofmalta.com