I remember a time, not long ago, when Cyrus Engerer, Franco Debono and even Jeffrey Pullicino Orlando were touted as Nationalist rising stars. Fast forward a few years: their political allegiances have changed. It’s no surprise that all three have since been subjected to character assassination, demonised by the very people who once hailed them as heroes.

What I find surprising here is that when a Labour MP joins the other side he/she is spared the abuse from these quarters. Take Marlene Farrugia. She may well be a loose cannon, an attention-seeking narcis­sist who has flip-flopped her way through Maltese politics, but you won’t hear that said – publicly at least – by those who’d have let rip if she’d switched to Labour.

Which can only mean that it’s not the act itself of ‘switching’ that attracts opprobrium, but who switches, and where.

I’ve never understood this; how people can carry out a hatchet-job on one person and celebrate another for doing the same thing. That’s blatant hypocrisy in my book – the double standard that always seems to favour the Nationalists and their claim to the sunny uplands of moral superiority, leaving Labour in the murk below.

When Lou Bondi left journalism to become a government consultant he knew he’d be in for a rough ride. It wasn’t just his taking the job that infuriated people; it was what happened behind the scenes: the blatant fact that one day he was an ‘independent’ outspoken journalist (with an undisguised, unapologetic PN bias) and the next, one of the boys within the government’s inner circle, who had suddenly lost his voice.

I always find silence to be the most dignified response in matters like these. Had Bondi spoken out, he might have achieved the exact opposite: a too-public, undignified and far from convincing exercise in self-justification. Instead, he adopted the ‘default’ position of most politicians and observed radio silence.

But whatever people’s views about Bondi’s move, he was always his own man. A one-man show – a journalist outside journalism, representing only himself whose journalism had never done the Labour Party in Opposition any favours. Quite the opposite.

And, had he left journalism to become a Nationalist campaign manager, he’d have been celebrated and spared most of the nega­tive blogging that he has since received. But then, a Bondi engaged to run the PL campaign would have been a very different story! Suddenly a lifelong career in ‘independent’ journalism would have stood in the way. How could he? Shockwaves everywhere.

It’s not the act itself of ‘switching’ which attracts opprobrium, but who switches, and where

His departure from journalism to glorified events organiser should in itself be an apoliti­cal non-event, though not in Malta where ‘independent’ is never taken at face value. Yet it was precisely when Bondi took up his consultancy role (an otherwise harmless sinecure?) that shockwaves were registered. Suddenly he was riding the gravy train – and this from those accustomed to riding close to the first-class passengers on the other line.

Like Bondi, Caroline Muscat has decided to walk away from independent journalism and espouse a political cause. With the difference that she has chosen to manage the Nationalist Party’s PR campaign. I’m pretty sure she’d find the comparison with Bondi odious, but then Bondi might find it uglier still.

Unlike Bondi, who did not volunteer an explanation, Muscat has, on at least three occasions, told us why she had no choice but to take a stand and retire from non-aligned journalism. Her words and deeds may come back to haunt her. Only time will tell.

Muscat claims she is fighting ‘the good fight’ to elect Simon Busuttil. Last Sunday in this paper we were given some insight into her way of thinking. In her invocation of ‘Black Monday’ she attempted to stir, subliminally, the old tribal narratives and atavistic fears: “In years past they tried to put us in our place with bombs, now they do it with spin and manipulation.”

She went on to say that it was her deep respect for the profession, and the realisation that her beliefs would stand in the way of her impartiality, which had forced her decision. Until the moment she resigned her post, she insisted, her journalistic integrity had been intact.

I’m pretty sure that there are many honest people in Malta who genuinely believe that the Nationalist Party, with or without Busuttil (but always with the familiar foot soldiers of ‘independent’ journalists and bloggers), is more adept at ‘spin’ than Labour. I’m also sure there are people who believe that good governance is a pipe dream and that corruption and scandals exist on both sides – with the caveat that some independent journalists find it difficult to shed their preconceived ideas about Labour even before they start digging, and are quicker to overlook Nationalist ‘dirt’, preferring to see it through rose-tinted spectacles.

In any case, Muscat simply could not have taken the decision overnight. She must have toyed with the decision for weeks, even months, while functioning as a newspaper editor. Maybe there was a genuine crisis of conscience.

But I’ll say this: that people who clamour for transparency should themselves be transparent. I hope she finds PN as transparent as she expects it to be.

Muscat laments the fact that since resigning her position as news editor of the Times of Malta, she has become the victim of a tax-funded campaign. She says it has only strengthened her resolve, but I think she really should thank her lucky stars she opted for the Nationalist Party and not Labour!

Bondi, likewise, was also spared the worst outrage, perhaps because his ‘other half’ finds favour with the far more savage and caustic campaign merchants on the other side.

I daresay this article may even attract the mandatory vitriolic abuse. Notwithstanding, my own resolve, if possible, is to carry on writing.

michelaspiteri@gmail.com

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