From Prof. J. M. Pirotta

I refer to the article “Red Faces at In-Nazzjon” (TMIS, 27 May) in which you rightly criticised the gaffe committed by the said newspaper when, in contrast to the reports appearing in the other three dailies, it wrongly claimed that 53 illegal immigrants had been saved from drowning.

In the same article you added the comment: “Analysing the daily papers on Campus FM the next morning Professor Joe Pirotta went one better: he said that he preferred to believe the Nazzjon story.”

For the benefit of your readers, and to put the record straight, this is a typescript of what I actually said after I commented about the strange discrepancy between the Nazzjon’s story and those of the other newspapers:

“The crucial difference is that while the three papers I have mentioned, l-orizzont, The Times and The Independent reported that by nightfall all traces of this boat had been lost, and that therefore it was feared that the illegal immigrants on board had drowned, the Nazzjon tells us that in fact the immigrants were saved and provides us with the details on its back page.”

After quoting the details provided by the newspaper I added: “I am assuming that in the light of the details carried by the newspaper this is how the story ended; I am also assuming that the other newspapers did not have the full details by the time they went to press. And I prefer to assume this because this will mean that the lives of these people were in fact saved. The lives of 53 people were in the balance.” I then criticised the barbarity of human traffickers and commented on the tragedies involved.

As to your other comment regarding my normal treatment of the two Maltese language dailies I leave it to regular and really independent listeners of my press analysis to reach their own conclusions.

Joseph M. Pirotta

TAL-QROQQ