Of well-endowed Bobbies...
April’s edition of manic! magazine featured a piece from one Chris Mangion in reply to a scathing article about souped-up cars by Guze’ Stagno. Mr Mangion, described as “a modified car enthusiast”, invited Mr Stagno to attend a gathering of souped-up car owners where a number of these cars are on display. However, Mr Mangion has a warning for Mr Stagno: “Should he opt to honour the modified street car scene with a visit, I strongly recommend he leave his girlfriend at home, lest she become helplessly attracted to another guy who is more endowed... maybe not only in the four-wheel department”.
“But hey, we know who this Chris Mangion is!” old newsroom hacks exclaimed upon reading his piece. Well er... endowed sources told MediaWatch that Mr Mangion is actually the constable working at the police’s Community and Media Relations Unit. It is surely a bonus for the Corps to have such a talented and handsome guy (and a former photographer to boot) working at their media office...
No love lost
Last Sunday saw another episode of the verbal duel between the features editor of Our Esteemed Paper, Marie Benoît, and the Nationalist Party. A sarcastic piece in the features supplement of Il-Mument, the Nats’ weekly paper, featured a portrait of Our Beloved Marie next to the comment “B’xorti tajba, Malta ghandha l-aqwa gurnalisti tad-dinja” (“Fortunately, Malta has the best journalists in the world”). On the same day, Our Beloved Marie spared a word or two for the Nats in First magazine: “Is it Christian to boo MPs as happened recently in Valletta on the day Dr Fenech Adami was anointed president, just because they are Laburisti? How Roman Catholic it is to constantly tear Alfred Sant from limb to limb in newspaper columns or during election time to demonise him... and then preach about values?” Surely there is no love lost between Our Dear Marie and the Nats! We eagerly await the next round...
Who is Joseph Calleja?
In her column in last week’s The Malta Independent on Sunday, Daphne Caruana Galizia informed the Great Unwashed about her latest discovery – tenor Joseph Calleja, who is going to sing during the EU accession celebrations in Malta. However, the Great Unwashed recalled that they had read about Mr Calleja somewhere before. In fact, the first article about Calleja to appear in The Malta Independent on Sunday was printed in November 1997. Indeed, opera buffs had been following Joseph Calleja’s career ever since his debut six months earlier. So Daphne had to wait seven whole years to discover Mr Calleja... which is a bit like Christopher Colombus discovering America... in 1499!
And, “bilhaqq”, an opera tenor like Joseph Calleja does not “play” roles but sings them, classical music experts told MediaWatch.
For Screaming’s sake
Scream, or this year’s ScreamX because of its 10th anniversary, claims to be the creation of third and fourth year B. Communications Students.
Lovely to see university students producing such a fine quality product, but then, did such a Scream of a magazine have to contain so many howlers?
To begin with a colleague, Charles Muscat is definitely wrong when he says that the United Kingdom “first held public referenda before deciding” (on the euro) A basic fact-finding mission might be in order...
Natasha Vella is understandably angry when she writes about the dire situation of women in Afghanistan... were it not for one small, insignificant detail. The above-mentioned situation of women, including the obligatory wearing of the chador, was changed with the war in Afghanistan and the removal of the Taliban... in 2001!
Oriana Spiteri gives a delightful description of the effects of a power cut, but surely she wouldn’t have needed a “geezer” – literally, “an old man” – to wash with. If anything, she might have needed a “geyser”... which is actually a natural hot spring, but also the word we use in Malta to describe a “water heater.”
Otherwise the issue has a fantastic cover picture by Shirley Spiteri, a delightful travelogue by Christina Camilleri on toilets around the world, and rather amusing articles by Varvara Kouraeva and Julia Belozerova. And it is, after all, “a scream”...
A tale of two Rasmussens
No, this is not the unearthing of some obscure work by Charles Dickens, but rather a mistake made by ONE News during the 7.30pm news bulletin yesterday week. A report about the election of former Danish Prime Minister Poul Nyrup Rasmussen as the new president of the Party of European Socialists featured a clip of Mr Rasmussen. However, the Mr Rasmussen shown on ONE News was not Poul Nyrup Rasmussen, but his compatriot Anders Fogh Rasmussen, who is the current Danish Prime Minister. Poul Nyrup Rasmussen, of the Danish Social-Democrat Party, served as Danish Prime Minister from 1993 till 2001, and was succeeded by Anders Fogh Rasmussen, from the Danish Liberal Party. As they say in Danish, “Aw, Ras...!”
Who is Kofi Annan?
The second Super One “super boob” in the space of two days (no, this has nothing to do with the size of Jordan’s bust, or with Pam Anderson’s latest breast enlargement, you dirty-minded lot!) dealt with Kofi Annan’s reaction to the referendum on Cypriot reunification. The news report claimed that Mr Annan was “is-segretarju ta’ l-Istati Uniti” (“the secretary of the United States”) rather than the secretary-general of the United Nations. The writer of this report has thus joined John Busuttil (of “Kofi Coffee” fame) in the league of the United Nations’ “VIPs” (Very Ignorant Persons) Besides, can you imagine anything scarier than a cross between Kofi Annan and George W. Bush?
Hamstrung!
Speaking during the signing of the agreement on PBS restructuring (Saturday 24 April), the General Workers’ Union deputy secretary general, Manuel Micallef, referred to the role of the Union’s PBS group committee (as mediators between the management and the employees) with the words: “il-perzuta bejn is-sandwich” (“the slice of ham between the sandwich”). Old hands at PBS remarked that this comment was most inappropriate in view of the burly figure of the shop steward at PBS, Ray Libreri, who was overheard saying he would prefer to be likened to “gammon” rather than ham...!
If you have spotted anything unusual while watching television or reading the papers, send us an e-mail on [email protected]. We will be glad to hear your comments and suggestions.
Tails 4 Europe
Many people chose to go and witness Malta’s EU accession celebrations first-hand, but those who watched them on television had another sight to admire apart from Gert Hoff’s light show: Net TV journalist Karl Stagno Navarra’s sartorial elegance! For La Madre Di Tutte Le Notti (The Mother of All Nights), Karl regaled us with full-blown black tails and bow-tie. Il Contino even gave us one of his trademark dog-sulks to underscore the solemnity of the event. But, alas, his style and elegance was not matched by either Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi or President Eddie Fenech Adami, neither of whom wore tails for the occasion. Ehm... Peccato!
Vote Glenn, says CNN
The American news network CNN was one of several media organisations to send journalists to Malta to cover our accession to the EU. A piece by European Political Affairs Editor Robin Oakley aired on 24 April 2004 featured, among others, Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi, Foreign Affairs Minister John Dalli, and Dr Roderick Pace from the European Movement. However, the only person from the Labour side to be interviewed by Mr Oakley was not leader Alfred Sant, nor one of the deputy leaders, nor even secretary-general Jason Micallef... but Glenn Bedingdfield, one of the eight Labour candidates for the European Parliament elections.
What a hike!
A secret study conducted by the finance ministry in January has discovered that the price of printed matter will be one of the items that will rise when the euro is introduced in Malta. It seems that this study has been leaked to the MaltaToday newspaper. In fact, they have already started taking the necessary measures to raise their price when Malta joins the euro. Indeed, a look at the masthead of MaltaToday shows that while the price in Maltese currency is 20c, that in euros is 0.70, which translates to around 29c4. On the other hand, The Malta Independent on Sunday costs E0.50...Perhaps they know something we don’t, such as the devaluation of the Maltese currency? Others raise the price, we raise the standards!
No love lost (2)
We have the second episode of the “No love lost” telenovela between Marie Benoît, the features editor of This Esteemed Newspaper, and the Nationalist Party. MediaWatch has learnt that there was an altercation between Our Dear Marie and Dione Borg, a reporter with the Nats’ newspaper In-Nazzjon, at the press lunch organised by the Kunsill Studenti Universitarji last Wednesday week. It seems that Mr Borg, who is mostly known for his passion for Floriana FC and St Publius, did not relish having his picture taken by Our Dear Marie for inclusion in Gallarija. It was Our Dear Marie who described it all in brillant Technicolor last Sunday: “One chap said he did not want to be ‘lowered’ by featuring on my page. So charming I thought but there you are. Social skills aren’t taught to everyone. His face was familiar but I couldn’t place him. It was someone called Spiridione Borg who had written a book I hadn’t read called Il (sic) Liberta’ Mhedda, one of those propaganda tomes issued by hacks before an election usually.” But surely Our Dear Marie must have committed some faux pas about footy or patron saints to enrage him so much... Pundits at MediaWatch agreed though that the absence of Dione from Gallarija was more than compensated by the large picture that graced page 3 of Gallarija last Sunday week... On the same day, Our Dear Marie poked her middle finger at the Nats again and smacked a big picture of a smiling Alfred Sant on the cover of First magazine as well as a three-page interview with The Man Himself. We await MK III of the saga soon...
Ron’s screw-up
A report in last fortnight’s The Malta Independent on Sunday concerning European Commission President Romano Prodi’s statements about Maltese Commissioner Joe Borg in the European Parliament drew an immediate response from Ronald Gallimore (right), who is the EU Commission’s representative in Malta. Mr Gallimore told us that “the quotes attributed to the Commissioner’s President in some media were taken out of context”. The hacks at The Malta Independent on Sunday told MediaWatch that the actual debate at the EP, when Mr Prodi replied to the statement made by MEP Max van der Berg in the EP on 5 May, was broadcast in full all over Europe by Satellite (EbS), the EU’s television station. It was from the EbS broadcast that The Malta Independent on Sunday got the quotes attributed to Mr Prodi in its report the following Sunday. It seems that Ron had screwed a Romano....
Missing a (Fr) Joe
Editors and journalists were invited to the annual drinks at the Archbishop’s Curia last Friday week on the occasion of World Day for Social Communication. The occasion came a week after the Archbishop had admonished Fr Joe Borg for accepting the post of chairman of the PBS Editorial Board without Mgr Mercieca’s consent. Talk of the town was obviously Fr Borg, but the “black sheep” was nowhere to be seen in the Curia. Nor were any of the other members of the PBS editorial board. Maybe they were not invited or had it been too late to invite them? MediaWatch in person tried to seek out Fr Borg and his PBS herd in the austere corridors of the Curia, but to no avail. However another “black sheep” of the Archbishop, Fr Colin Apap, did show up in what some of the media hacks present described as a surprise appearance. Fr Colin had also been admonished by the Archbishop after endorsing Labour EP candidate Joseph Muscat, but the ever-smiling “agony aunt” did not seem bruised at all by the episode.
Wot, no FA Cup?
It seems that the cost-cutting exercise at PBS has already left its first major casualty. English football fans were a trifle annoyed when they discovered that TVM was not going to broadcast live the FA Cup match between Manchester United and Millwall yesterday week. Footy pundits told MediaWatch that this was the first time in some 20 years that TVM had not aired the game live. The rather irate supporters could only watch the game on cable television (and having to pay for the privilege for the first time in two decades) or go to a nearby pub and join the crowd there.
What a hike (2)
Last Sunday’s Maltatoday still sported the 20c/e0.70 price tag. Still, it should have been easy. If one were to use the Currency Converter on the website of the associated paper, The Business Times (www.businesstimes.com.mt) it still gives 20c as being the equivalent of e0.46 cents.
They’ll do anything
“The whirling self-importance of our lesser legislators is a glory to behold, especially when it comes to advertising their Zelig-like proximity to great personages and dramatic events.”
Thus commented Christopher Silvester in his Diary, in last Sunday’s UK paper The Independent.
He added: “One such opportunity occurred this week with the purple powder bomb lobbed at Tony Blair during PM’s Questions.
“Richard Younger-Ross, the Liberal Democrat MP for Teignbridge, issued a press release giving an eye-witness account of the attack, a police-style description of the assailants (incorrect, for that matter, since he said that the men were in their twenties), and boasting what a great view he had of it all.
“Not to be outdone by this minnow, Michael Fabricant, Tory MP for Lichfield, also issued a melodramatic press release in which he sought to remind us how close – a mere matter of yards – he always sits to Tony Blair (though no closer than more august figures such as Michael Howard).
“Meanwhile, Chris Bryant, that peculiar Labour chap from Rhondda who famously posted a self-portrait in his underpants on the Internet, was reported in Thursday’s Western Mail saying he thought he was going to die.”
And of course, here we have had Jason Azzopardi, who saw it all from the Strangers Gallery, and was quoted as having said, mistakenly, that the attack had to do with the situation in the Middle East.
The end comment by Mr Silvester is apt: “They’ll do anything, it would seem, for a few, measly (local newspaper) column inches.”
Super Raph!
It’s a bird... No, it’s a plane... No, it’s Super Raph! Raphael Vassallo, the deputy editor of This Manic Independent on Sunday, was spotted giving his wholehearted support to the Malta rugby team during its match against Hungary at the Marsa Stadium last Saturday week. But we are still puzzled why Raphael was wearing a Superman T-shirt – did he think the Maltese team might need his “Super” help? Well, considering Raphael’s light-weight frame, that would be akin to a scarecrow challenging the wind, not even if he’s buoyed up by a couple of lagers... But fortunately for Raphael, the Malta rugby team did not need his help since they beat the Hungarians handsomely... Forza Malta!
If you have spotted anything unusual while watching television or reading the papers, send us an e-mail on [email protected]. We will be glad to hear your comments and suggestions.Of Sucking and Preying Maltesers...
Readers of Style magazine, given with The Sunday Times of London on 23 May, were quite amused by a letter sent to its “agony aunt” Mrs Mills. A reader from North Wales, DLO, asked Mrs Mills: “My long-time girlfriend has confided in me that she likes to suck Maltesers. Should I consider cancelling our summer holiday to Malta?” “Don’t worry, they’re made in Slough,” was Mrs Mills’s terse reply. Should the Welshman be reassured that his partner will indeed be safe in Malta, in spite of the Preying Maltesers, who lurk around in droves all over our islands? Their lips might not be made of chocolate but they might nonetheless prove too sweet for his girlfriend to resist...
Waiting for the Promised Land at Castille...
Newsrooms across Malta received a phone call from the Department of Information late on Tuesday morning about an urgent press conference Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi was going to hold at 1.15pm about the landfills at Ta’ l-Ghallis. In view of the importance of this press conference, a substantial number of media hacks rushed to the Prime Minister’s Office at the Auberge de Castille to attend the much-awaited press conference. But, alas, the press conference did not start exactly on time... it was only two hours and 15 minutes late! Moles at Castille told MediaWatch that this delay was the result of a Cabinet meeting which lasted much longer than expected and took some three hours in all...Well, the miserable hacks could not do anything else but chat and chat and chat till the doors of the Promised Land were opened at 3.30pm.
Norman, sei stato vindicato!
Media hacks attending the press briefing by the Electoral Commission last Thursday on yesterday’s European Parliament and Local Councils Elections noticed that the Ta’ Qali counting hall was being given a thorough clean-up before it kicked into action late last night. Toiling behind one of the large perspex panels to make it clean and shining was one of those dark-skinned men who, according to Norman Lowell of Imperivm Evropa fame, are taking away the jobs of the Europid Maltese! Will Norman pour his ira on the Electoral Commission for aiding and abetting such a heinous crime?
Some “non-issues”
Issues such as abortion and euthanasia are “non-issues” in Malta.
That is the verdict of none other than Fr Vanni Xuereb, the Church’s man on Europe, or, to give him his full title, the President of the Curia’s Commission for the Church in Malta and Europe.
Fr Xuereb was quoted by MaltaToday as saying that issues such as abortion and euthanasia are “non-issues”.
Fr Xuereb wrote a letter to the paper reacting against criticism of the bishop’s mention of abortion in their pre-EP election message. The paper had said, along with others, that the mentioning of abortion only served as political fuel after the issue had been the focus of a political scare campaign conducted by the Nationalist Party on Alternattiva Demokratika’s candidate Arnold Cassola.
In his letter, Fr Xuereb did not state that abortion and euthanasia are “non-issues” but he was quoted by the paper as saying so in a verbal communication to the paper. He was quoted as saying: “It is true that parties have tried to scare off voters in these elections, so why make an issue out of a non-issue many would argue.”
Funny this, and if abortion is a “non-issue” why then did the bishops mention it in their statement?
Wrong name, copain!
Speaking during the signing of the second agreement between the Maltese government and IT giant Microsoft on Wednesday, Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi constantly addressed the chief executive officer, Mr Courtois, of Microsoft Europe, Middle East and Africa by his first name, sounding as if he had known him for ages. However, his name was not Jean-Paul, as Dr Gonzi referred to him, but Jean Philippe. Well, that might explain Mr Courtois’s constant smirk while Dr Gonzi was addressing him. Faux pas, Monsieur le Premier Ministre!
If you have spotted anything unusual while watching television or reading the papers, send us an e-mail on [email protected]. We will be glad to hear your comments and suggestions.
Of copybook journalism...
It seems that the cost-cutting measures at PBS have reached unprecedented lows. Hacks reporting the European Council in Brussels last week could not help but notice that the only Maltese journalist who did not have a laptop to work on was the guy from PBS. The hapless journalist had to write his scripts for television and radio on a copybook, with all the hassle that this entails. One has to say, though, that the journalist involved did a very good job despite the primitive tools that “the station of the nation” put at his disposal.
Euronews 4 John Dalli?
In its “no comment” feature last week about the European Council, Euronews only showed Foreign Affairs Minister John Dalli’s shaking hands with French President Jacques Chirac. It omitted completely Mr Chirac’s handshake with Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi at the same meeting. Does Euronews have a hidden agenda when it shows only John Dalli and not Lawrence Gonzi?
Death-trap in Brussels...
Speaking of the European Council, it has transpired that a former underground car park two floors down was transformed into a temporary press centre for the meeting of EU leaders was described as a “potential death trap”.
The Association de la Presse Internationale (API), which represents many of the 2,000-strong Brussels press corps, said it had serious reservations about the safety of people working in the centre in the event of a fire or other emergency.
Fortunately enough, the Maltese press were not relegated to this underground press centre since they were housed on the second floor of the Justus Lipsius building, which hosts the Council of Ministers.
However, the briefing room for Malta was indeed underground, we were indeed flirting with danger...
Champagne Marie!
Well, Our Beloved Marie Benoit, features editor of This Esteemed Newspaper, has made much of Labour’s victory in the European Parliament elections. She mentioned this no less than two times last Sunday! On Gallarija we had half a page dedicated to this together with a pictur of a woman reading a newspaper whose headline was doctored to read “MLP 3 PN 2”. The second mention was in the leader of First magazine, where we actually learnt that Our Dear Marie was going to toast the three Labour MEPs elected... with sparkling champagne perhaps?
The Ambassador’s Organ
No, this is not the title of a second-rate porn movie, but the title of an opinion piece by Joe Grima on di-ve.com last Monday. Joey was writing about French Ambassador Patrick Chrismant’s reaction to a report in The Malta Independent on Sunday. In his reaction, Ambassador Chrismant had referred to This Esteemed Newspaper as “your respected organ”. Well, Joey told His Excellency that “in this country we do not refer to newspapers as ‘organs’. Organs can be of two types – of the musical kind or of the other kind. The French would know more about the latter than the former”. Al buon intenditor, poche parole!
In the same article, Joey told us that M. Chrismant was, in his opinion, “the least charismatic of most French ambassadors we have had the pleasure of hosting to date”. Yet Joey was constantly calling him M. “Charismant”. Is this a case, as usual, of an over-charismatic Joey?
Top Gun(z)!
MediaWatch has learnt that aircraft carrier USS John F Kennedy was not on a rest and recreation visit to Malta, as was claimed in the media, but had a secret mission. Moles inside the US Navy told MediaWatch that this mission consisted in the filming of a sequel of the celebrated Top Gun movie. The moles added that Malta was the right location to film the sequel because of the very fine weather which makes filming much easier. Moreover, since Tom Cruise could not be engaged for the sequel, a substitute actor had to be found. MediaWatch has learnt that after an intensive search all over the globe, the right person was found in Malta. MediaWatch has managed to obtain an exclusive photograph of this budding Maltese talent on board the set of the USS and is publishing it here to see for yourselves....What a Top Gun(z)!
Dizzied by a Raspberry?
Speaking of Stordut, it seems that the guy has really gotten nasty now...His latest Opus in last week’s Il-Mument is a semantic treatise on the different meanings of the word “raspberry” with reference to Alternattiva Demokratika chairperson Harry Vassallo’s article in The Sunday Times (18 June) entitled “The Great Green Raspberry”. Well, Stordut tells us that the name of that article in Maltese ought be “Il-Bassa kbira Hadra” since in that context, he said, Harry Vassallo was not referring to the fruit but to the imitation one makes with the mouth of the sound that usually emanates from one’s nether regions. Well, Stordut does not need a raspberry or The Original One to get dizzy... the results of the European Parliament elections did the job nicely, thank you!
No love lost (4)
Storm clouds have been gathering for a number of weeks now... thus the thunderstorm that broke out between Marie Beno”t, the features editor of This Esteemed Newspaper, and the Nationalist Party, was not so unexpected... After Our Dear Marie’s dressing-down of Maria Micallef Leyson in “First” two weeks ago, complete with a picture of a sulking little girl, it was Stordut in last week’s Il-Mument who came down on our beloved Marie like a ton of bricks. Among the adjectives used in this article were “cercura”, “bitchy” and “catty” with reference to Our Beloved Marie...Well, it seems that Stordut himself has become bitchy (or doggy?) himself! Or is he trying to take the Mickey? It seems that the No Love Lost telenovela between Our Dear Marie and the Nats, now in its Fourth Round, is gradually building up to a boxing match...
Eyes in the back of his head? Perhaps!
It seems that the picture editor at Allied Newspapers needs to consult with his ophthalmologist. MediaWatch spotted two mistakes in two different photo captions in two editions of The Times and The Sunday Times. On 3 July, The Times had a photo caption on page 4 which read “President Emeritus Guido de Marco, Simon Busuttil, Louis Grech and the Prime Minister yesterday”...However the Prime Minister was consipicuous by his absence! The Prime Minister did not attend although scheduled to do so. The Department of Information cancelled his appointment a few hours before – perhaps that’s why the guy at The Times got his captions mixed up!).
The second mistake appeared the following day, on 4 July, in The Sunday Times on page 1 where the Attorney-General was identified as “Anthony Borg Barthet”! The person in the picture bore more than a marked resemblance to Dr Silvio Camilleri than to Dr Anthony Borg Barthet! Dr Anthony Borg Barthet was appointed Judge in the European Court of Justice in Luxembourg earlier this year and Dr Camilleri succeeded him as Attorney-General.
Karl’s ‘dectures’
Linguists at the University of Malta contacted MediaWatch to inform it that a new word in English was discovered in Malta last week.
Here is a blow-by-blow transcript of the conversation between MediaWatch and these linguists --
MW – What’s the word?
Ls – A “decture”...
MW – Is this some kind of joke?
Ls – No...
MW – Do you have some proof of this?
Ls – Yes...
The linguists then took out a copy of last Sunday’s MaltaToday newspaper and pointed out an article by Karl Schembri about the first hundred days of Lawrence Gonzi as Prime Minister on page 8.
The beginning of paragraph 4 read as follows: “The lame Cabinet reshuffle (‘he’s just laying dectures on the Titanic,’ Nazi candidate Norman Lowell beautifully described it) was immediately followed by a decision...”
So the linguists were right after all!
Or perhaps Karl was referring to a denture?
No tape recorders for Gonzi
New restrictions have been placed on media organisations reporting the Prime Minister’s monthly press briefing for July, which was held on Thursday, a week later than scheduled. A note circulated by the Department of Information (DOI) on Wednesday stated that “audio recorders cannot be placed in front of the Prime Minister”. To add insult to injury, the DOI said that an audio-recording of the media briefing would be available on its website in the afternoon some three hours later.
Therefore radio journalists were late reporting the Prime Minister’s exact quotes. Moreover, cameramen were instructed to take the official audio feed from the DOI public address system rather than use their own microphones as usual. Media pundits told MediaWatch that these restrictions were similar to those that the Iraqis put in place for the first court appearance of former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein last week... Is it the work of some aesthetic freak at Castille...or is a control freak at work instead?
A Gaddafi double in Malta?
MediaWatch has learnt that the Libyan secret service (LSS) is looking for a double of leader Muammar Gaddafi. The LSS wants to double security during the public appearances of Colonel Gaddafi by using the double to represent Colonel Gaddafi on occasions unbeknownst. They scoured the whole world in search of a suitable person, and eventually The Right Guy was found in Malta, just a stone’s throw away from Tripoli. MediaWatch has obtained an exclusive picture of the Libyan leader’s double and it is being published here for the very first time...
Locked up at the MCA
Media hacks who went to cover a press conference by the Malta Communications Authority (MCA) on Wednesday morning were offered the use of its private car park. Since the MCA is in Tower Road, Sliema, where parking space is at a premium, almost all the journalists chose to use the private car park. However, getting out of the car park was a problem as the exit was closed with a barrier. A rather impatient media carcade piled up in front of the exit, complete with hooting horns! It was only around 10 minutes later that somebody opened the exit and the exasperated media monkeys could get out of the cage!
Time to be nasty...
It seems that the high temperatures recorded in the Maltese Islands over the past few weeks have caused the hormones of some of the columnists in the papers to go haywire. This is the only conclusion that can be drawn after noticing that columnists in two different papers last Sunday made a not so veiled reference to the er, special endowment of the male of the species... In his weekly piece in It-Torca (p. 13), Wenzu Mintoff described the various euphemisms used in Maltese for the male sexual organ: “kanna, zokk, pendlu, organu maskili, pene, virga virili”. Why shouldn’t we use the original Maltese word, he asked, in its purest form. Meanwhile, in This Esteemed Newspaper, Raphael Vassallo (p. 21) described the Polidano Group as “the self-styled ‘Rocco Siffredi’ of Malta’s construction’s industry”. Well, for those who are not au courant with who Mr Siffredi is, we will only say that he is the top male porn star in Italy and have it on the best information that he is quite well-endowed... The dulcis in fundo, as the Latins call it, came from none other than Pious Daphne on Thursday in The Malta Independent (p. 6), where she referred to the “family jewels” of a PBS journalist who, she claims, did not hesitate to bare his all at hen parties! She holds forth from her pulpit, though, that such occasions “do not fit my description of a fun night out”! But the graphic details she gives to describe this journalist’s performances would suggest otherwise...
Bobby blunders...
Newsrooms across Malta were rather amused after receiving an e-mail on Tuesday evening from the police community and media relations unit (CMRU) announcing a “Pess (sic) Release” on a substantial drug haul in Gozo. If the police cannot get their English right, what do they do with their investigations? Or were the police perhaps trying to take the p*ss out of the press? In any case, we strongly suggest to the police commissioner to organise English literacy courses for his police officers so that they can polish up their language skills in the Mother Tongue of William Shakespeare...
The oldest profession
Continuing with the theme of sexuality, another piece that caught the attention of the MediaWatch cabal over the past week was the first in a series of articles in last Sunday’s It-Torca about Strait Street in Valletta, which, until 40 years ago, was home to THE red light district. We get a description of how this street was built to house prostitutes when Valletta was built by the Knights of St John. We are told that they even built an orphanage for those children who were born to prostitutes. It also served as an old people’s home for the older prostitutes who had “retired”. There is also a vintage picture of a scantily-clad (for the time) male transvestite in tights raising his right foot next to two men on a sofa in a bar in Strait Street. It is a very interesting piece from a historical point of view. However media hacks who spoke to MediaWatch pointed out to the old adage that “sex sells”!
“The Joke of the Week”
A few weeks ago, the Rabat mayor asked the developers of the Verdala Hotel to give a guarantee that the 200 to 300 jobs that will be created when the hotel opens are given to Rabat residents. The leader in the Church weekly newspaper Il-Gens (28 August, p.9) declared this request “the joke of the week”. However, in the same leader, the Rabat mayor is called Alfred Fabri (sic) instead of Frank Fabri. How about that for “the joke of the week” award?
TMBW reviewed at last
MediaWatch is pleased to note that its appeal a fortnight ago to have The Malta Business Weekly (TMBW) reviewed during the newspaper analysis on radio and television with the other newspapers has finally been heeded. On Thursday, Super One Radio finally reviewed TMBW to the joy of the legion of hacks working there!
Nights at St James Cavalier
Media hacks were rather delighted to receive an invitation by e-mail to attend the presentation of the annual report of St James Cavalier Centre for Creativity yesterday, especially the invitation for lunch immediately after. However, they were rather surprised when they realised that the event was scheduled for 11.30pm! Reading statistics and listening to endless speeches by Minister for Tourism Francis Zammit Dimech does not rate very high on most hacks’ idea of a fun Saturday night out, so they were going to give the event a miss until some enterprising hacks actually bothered to check with St James Cavalier. “That’s a misprint,” they were told, “the event is at 11.30 am”. So they were not going to lose out on their lunch after all...
MEPA chairman gets the wrong Fenech...
At Thursday’s MEPA hearing about the Verdala golf course, MEPA chairman Andrew Calleja started calling for comments from a list of speakers. At one point, he was supposed to call Philip Fenech on behalf of the GRTU. However the MEPA chairman called out “Gerald Fenech” instead. “I did not ask to speak, Mr Chairman,” replied the The Malta Independent on Sunday hack to the hapless MEPA chairman amid roars of laughter by all those present. A much-appreciated moment of relief in a hot four-hour meeting...
Comparisons
Over the past days the media, both local and international, showed the video taken in the school in Bezlan before the final massacre. But while local television stations showed the video and, in some cases, kept running it over and over again without explaining to the viewers what they were seeing, Ore 13 by Canale 5 broke it up and explained the significance of every part of it. This is what should have been done. Instead, local commentary hardly referred to the video being shown. Don’t talk of the big Italians having bigger outfits and budgets. Talk of mediocrity reigning all over this place.
Unexpected entertainment at the Regatta
Wednesday’s Victory Day Regatta did not see any of the violent mayhem that erupted last year with the Shield being thrown in the water by angry supporters. This, though, did not mean that there was no entertainment at this year’s Regatta. Honour of “best plunge of the day” goes to PBS sports commentator Mario Meli, who literally missed the boat and fell into the water – he was trying to hop on to one of the judges’ boats. A picture in Thursday’s The Times (p.6) shows Mr Meli, who was one of the official judges at the Regatta, clambering into the judges’ boats. MediaWatch has learnt that Mr Meli – who is no spring chicken – was taken to hospital as a precautionary measure soon after the incident. Thankfully no harm done. Media hacks who spoke to MediaWatch noted that this incident is the perfect metaphor for the current state of PBS, which, according to these hacks, mar il-bahar!
EU goes ‘pubic’ again
As the Italians say, “l’appetito vien mangiando,” and this adage seems to apply to the European Commission Representation in Malta as well. On Friday, newsrooms received yet another e-mail containing the bane of English-language journalism...This time, we are told about “pubic (sic) health”...Yet another shock for some prudish Maltese by the sinful European Union for you...
Santus Interruptus…
Viewers of the first edition of Bondiplus last Tuesday evening noted that Lou Bondì was once again engaging in his favourite pastime on television – interrupting his guest (remember John Dalli’s performance on Bondiplus a few months ago followed shortly by his political demise?).
This time his chosen prey was none other than Labour leader Alfred Sant, who had to endure constant interruptions by Mr Bondì. At one time, Mr Bondì even resorted to cutting Dr Sant mid-sentence by screening an insert.
However, Dr Sant was in a more than usual assertive mood this time and almost always managed not to allow Mr Bondì’s interruptions stop the rhythm of his speech…
Richard’s mastery of Maltese
Well, many viewers were rather impressed with Richard Cachia Caruana’s mastery of the Maltese language as heard in the short clip aired in Tuesday’s Bondiplus. Linguistic experts who spoke to MediaWatch were rather pleased with Mr Cachia Caruana’s flawless Maltese and said it was comparable (or even better) than that of the master of rhetoric in L-Ilsien li Tatek Ommok, Professor Oliver Friggieri. They added that Mr Cachia Caruana should be made a fellow of L-Akkademja tal-Malti because our Permanent Representative to the EU and his eloquent Maltese is making us all proud in Brussels… He is truly the proud successor of our national poet Dun Karm Psaila…
Freeport statistics cock-up…
There were differing reports as to how much the Maltese government will pocket followingf the privatisation of the Malta Freeport on Tuesday. That same evening, MaltaMedia.com and di-ve.com mentioned the sum of US$331 million, but The Malta Independent Daily reported the following day that the sum was “about US$421 million”. However, MaltaMedia.com and di-ve.com differed when reporting the equivalent sum in Maltese – MaltaMedia.com said it was Lm115 million, while di-ve.com reported it was “more than Lm128 million”. Who got it right?
Ivan the Bombastic
If there was to be an award for most bombastic title of the year, this would surely have been earned by The Times on Wednesday for its title about the hearing of Joe Borg, Maltese designate commissioner for fisheries: “Borg ‘impresses’ MEPs”. Well, the article by Ivan Camilleri, the Brussels correspondent of The Times, was equally bombastic: “Maltese designate European Commissioner Joe Borg yesterday gave what was described as an impressive showing before the European Parliament Fisheries Committee”. However, its seems that not everybody was as impressed as Mr Camilleri with Dr Borg’s performance. The vice-president of the Socialist Group in the European Parliament, Jan Marinus Wiersma, and Group spokesman on fishing policy Heinz Kindermann said: “Mr Borg’s answers were satisfactory, in as much as he said he was concerned to achieve a successful, integrated approach to regional development of fishing-dependent coastal areas (…) It remains to be seen if his actions match his words.” Mr Wiersma and Mr Kindermann described Dr Borg’s answers to questions as “long but vague enough not to be wrong”. They added: “As more pointed questions were asked, his answers became less consistent.” Mr Kindermann said: “Overall, Socialist members of the committee recommend the Group to support Mr Borg, on the assumption that he will fulfil his pledges of constant dialogue with the European Parliament and show the necessary openness to our concerns.”
New pastures for Maltese journalists abroad...
It seems that there are Maltese journalists who are seeking pastures new abroad. For instance, Matthew Vella of MaltaToday fame has gone to Africa and joined Eritrea Daily, as this picture of their website exclusively obtained by MediaWatch shows… However, our joy was short-lived when we realised that Matthew had not made the career move of his life – his article had simply been lifted from the MaltaToday website and re-printed on the Eritrea Daily…
Dun Victor Grech gets the chop…
One of the victims of the restructuring at PBS is none other than Mgr Victor Grech, who had his popular Radio Malta programme “Kelma ta’ Kuragg” on Saturday morning axed when the new schedule started at the beginning of the month. This was one of the historical programmes on Maltese radio that Mgr Grech has presented since 1956, and was a beacon of comfort for people with social problems for many a generation. What is more puzzling is the manner in which the decision was taken. The Times reported on Thursday that “Mgr Grech said he had had no intention of stopping the programme, which had a following of thousands, but received a very short letter from PBS last week thanking him for his service and inviting him to submit an application if he was interested in being included in the new schedule starting in February. He had called PBS to see what this was all about and was told that, as he had not applied to be included in the October schedule, he had been dropped. He told PBS officials that throughout his career there he had never applied to be included in a schedule”. Old hands told MediaWatch that it is hard to understand how the PBS editorial board, headed by a priest, could arrive at such a decision. “Was this the quality leap promised in public service broadcasting?” they asked. However, as from Saturday 9 October, Mgr Grech’s programme is being aired on RTK Radio (the official radio of the Catholic Church in Malta) from 8.05am to 8.50 am…