The complexity of public affairs, the evolution of social organisation, the pervasiveness of science and technology and other developments have increased the demand for interpretative and in-depth journalism as well as news analysis. Hence the appearance of a new breed of opinion makers whose duty is to enquire, investigate, think through and sum up their considered views for public consumption and enlightenment.

The views of a columnist are as good as that of any other man or woman – although the best interpretative and analytical efforts call for insight, resourcefulness, experience and a talent for getting close enough to the official world to discern hidden implications independent of the official perspective

Add to this the ability to present complex matters in simple prose and you have a respected and, possibly, an influential columnist who can “describe the event of the day in its proper relationship to the history of yesterday and the dream of tomorrow”.

The Malta scene

That kind of columnist is a rara avis that would be snapped up by the quality press in cosmopolitan cities. He or she is a professional and a figure to be reckoned with, who “understands the mutterings of the age” and has the ability to focus a powerful mind on the ultimate problem of democracy: informing mass opinion.

In Malta, we have more daily and weekly papers, as well as radio and TV stations, than many cosmopolitan cities with millions of inhabitants. Alas, quality does not come with quantity. The media lacks the solid base that comes with mass circulation and the advertising revenue sustained by a big enough market. Competition and fragmentation denude the financial input and erode such human resources, with the necessary potential, as are available.

Other indigenous characteristics have also emerged to dent the potential of opinion makers across the local media spectrum.

Politicians, hungry for visibility, have hogged considerable space on a regular basis in most daily and weekly papers. To be fair, it must be said that a few of them have been active journalists – and a limited number of these may be considered authoritative columnists in their own right.

On the other hand, a disproportionate number of active politicians sprang out of nowhere to write weekly or fortnightly columns on cabbages and kings – mostly on cabbages.

Recent developments

Some rely on ghost writers. A number of them write de riguer in their party paper and preach to the converted. Others write copiously and assiduously in their own party and in the independent press. More often than not, one anticipates the reading material and grasps the message from the headings.

Does this waste of effort, time and resources have any bearing on local opinion? Or is it a drain of resources that could otherwise be more effectively employed by the politicians and the media concerned?

It would appear that the more recent results emerging from electoral consultations have brought home a healthy and welcome message – namely that influences more persuasive than politicians-cum-columnists played a significant role!

The impact of education and the increasing reference to computer sources have partly emancipated the electorate.

The sovereign electorate has had a shot in the arm and is better able to think on its own feet. This applies in particular to the younger generation that is more inquisitive, non-conformist and headstrong. The rising generation views a world as it really is, one that very often does not match the picture politician’s carry in their heads.

For the most part, the emancipated voters do not first see then define. They define first, and then see. They do not accept stereotypes at face value. They have their modern concepts and they assess politicians by their own criteria.

Politicians who tend to convey the impression that they have just descended from the mountain top with a set of tablets do not fit any longer in the latter-day democratic milieu.

The new accepted wisdom is that if a country is to be governed with the consent of the governed, then the governed must be able to arrive at opinions on what their governors want them to consent to.

The electorate is aware of its sovereignty and is becoming increasingly determined to exercise it.

It is the columnist who is not beholden to any political party at any cost who can perform an essential service to the emerging thinking electorate –namely by critical analysis, to be savoured and filtered by the electorate which is sovereign.

It is fertility of insight rather than vitriol that nourishes democracy. This, to my mind, should be the star by which authentic opinion makers should navigate.

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