Do we care that much that a PN councillor has defected to the PL? Is it just me that finds all the fuss OTT (over the top)? I suppose I will now get some political groupie calling my opinion perverse and claiming I hate politicians or gays. The truth is that I don’t have time for anything that is stretched out of all proportion.
Let’s face it, Cyrus Engerer is a very minor politician, he isn’t even a mayor, for heaven’s sake. He must have known his days with the PN were over when he publicly said the Prime Minister should resign. How naive is that? Unless of course he wanted out in the first place.
Sure, his politics do not seem to be fusty and that is good news. But does he think that swapping parties will make that much difference? Does he imagine that if, at some later stage, he might want to publicly call on the PL leader to resign, his position would be any different to what it is now?
I suppose he could then join Alternattiva, which perhaps would suit him better anyway. Now if we had a Cabinet Minister, or at least a Parliamentary Secretary, or even some PN veteran moving over to Labour, one could understand people getting excited.
But for the topic to get top billing in the (Malta) Times online “Most popular “ and “In Discussion”, with over 400 comments, just baffles me. Especially, when big news is happening internationally like the crumbling of Rupert Murdoch’s media empire, which should send ripples of foreboding to any in the media who dabble in gutter journalism.
Murdoch’s media has had substantial political influence in the past, but it seems that today’s western leaders are not that keen on him or his power. However, as Nick Robinson, the BBC’s political editor, rightly pointed out, “Politicians and the press are fated to be locked perpetually in a loveless embrace... Newspapers are bought by men not to make money but for power and influence.”
We all know how politicians cosy up to the press when they want favourable coverage. Nevertheless, we must also be wary of newspapers’ agendas. The media can be as dishonest as any corrupt politician in its bid for power can.
I have never been a fan of gutter journalism and the News of the World was never popular with right-minded people. I can honestly say that in my nearly three decades in London I never bought the rag. The tabloid was shut down last week.
The phone-hacking scandal rocked the establishment in the UK first and is now reverberating in the US. After the resignation of News International (the media group’s UK newspaper arm) CEO, Rebekah Brooks on Friday, Les Hinton, chief executive of Dow Jones, publisher of the Wall Street Journal and a close Murdoch ally also quit his post yesterday.
Mr Hinton who led News International from 1995-2007 when the UK’s News of the World was hacking phones told reporters: “The pain caused to innocent people is unimaginable.” It is a shame they (the executives at NI) did not think about that at the time.
Of course, they are claiming that although they are taking full responsibility they were unaware of what was going on.
“That I was ignorant of what apparently happened is irrelevant,” Mr Hinton said. On Thursday, the FBI announced it was investigating whether the News of the World had also snooped on the phones of 9/11 victims.
In the UK, Ms Brooks resignation (one comment was registered by 11.49 yesterday, in the Malta Times report. Obviously, nowhere near as important as Mr Engerer’s defection from the Malta Nationalist Party to Labour. Talk about insularity!) was welcomed by Prime Minister David Cameron, who said Ms Brooks, who was his friend and a neighbour, had made “the right decision”. Mr Cameron has appointed a judge to conduct a sweeping inquiry into criminal activity at the paper and in the British media.
Murdoch’s dirty newsgathering has finally got its comeuppance. I am all for the media exposing wrongdoing by people in power, but The News of the World always went too far. I believe that corruption should always be challenged. I also deem it right that the public is entitled to know what is really going on, but there is a fine line to be drawn when innocent people end up as the victims of a ruthless press in search of sensational news.
Evidence is being produced of illegally hacked phones of people ranging from a murdered teenager in 2002; victims of London’s 2005 terrorist bombings and families of dead British soldiers to former prime minister Gordon Brown.
“I have seen hundreds of news reports of both actual and alleged misconduct during the time I was executive chairman of News International and responsible for the company,” said Mr Hinton. He apologised to those hurt by the actions of the News of the World.
In 2002, the paper’s operatives hacked the phone of 13-year-old murder victim Milly Dowler, giving her family false hope that their daughter was still alive. Rebekah Brooks was News of the World editor at that time and the Dowler family called on Brooks to resign.
On Friday, Mr Murdoch apologised to the family of the murdered British schoolgirl and yesterday full-page advertisements in Britain’s main national newspapers carried an apology for “serious wrongdoings” by the News of the World, signed by him.