In an unprecedented move, the Office of the President has asked media houses – through the Department of Information – to provide a list of journalists and cameramen who will be covering the swearing-in ceremony of the Prime Minister and, later, of the Cabinet of Ministers.

The names must be submitted by this evening at 5pm, long before the actual voting starts.  Special passes will be issued to each organisation for both ceremonies, the DOI has said.

Media houses have to submit the names without knowing on which day and at what time the ceremonies will take place, and this could create logistical problems.

The swearing-in ceremony for the Prime Minister normally takes place while the counting of votes is still taking place at the counting hall, and with journalists therefore still covering the process. Media houses are normally also informed of the happening less than an hour before it actually takes place, a matter that will create difficulty for the journalists to arrive at the Palace in Valletta – given that they could be covering other election related issues as well as the masses of people that are expected to fill up Valletta streets, not to mention traffic problems.

The question that arises in this case is this – why does the Department of Information issue press cards for journalists each year, and then media houses are requested to provide names and ID card numbers (which the DOI already has) for a government-related event? Are the DOI press cards not enough for such purposes? And why is there a need for names to be submitted when the DOI is provided with such a list at the start of each year?