It was one hell of a week - one so busy and hectic that, on Wednesday evening on my way back home from the office, I didn't even have the energy, or the will, to change the radio station tuned in on my car radio.

By some unfortunate accident, it was airing a parliamentary sitting.

Under normal circumstances, I would rather eat dirt than listen to a pack of wolves in love with the sound of their own voice, but last Wednesday, I was so tired and distracted that I just sat there and listened to the boring session.

But then, just two minutes into my surreal parliamentary experience, Mr. George Pullicino made it all worth my while.

You see, in between objections and points of order regarding various newly proposed legislations, Pullicino who had already left the session but returned to make a point, started off by saying that he had just had a very worrying and perturbing experience. His experience was so disturbing that not only did he want to have it recorded in parliamentary records; he also wanted the Speaker (and possibly the police) to investigate it.

Now I was all ears and perked up with a newfound interest. Was it a breach of conduct? Did some Minister engage in some corrupt activity that, if revealed, would save the country millions? Did Pullicino have some soul-cleansing experience that would help the neediest?

Just like a true politician, Mr Pullicino took his time to get on with it. He paused for dramatic effect with what sounded like rehearsed timing and, slowly but surely, explained that as he was walking out of Parliament and talking on his mobile phone, he was accosted by a female journalist who had the audacity to come out of her 'designated media area', physically block his path and, ask him for a comment. He sounded so distressed that for a moment he had me thinking that the journalist was wielding a steak knife and not a microphone.

On the same night of the incident, One News released the footage showing the great encounter. Journalist Nicole Buttigieg is seen in the background holding a microphone and even though we don't see her doing so in the footage, she had been trying to get a comment from Pullicino for quite some time. She had approached him before he entered Parliament earlier that evening, but even then he was on his phone and just walked past her. She then waited for him to come out, and once again, he was on the phone, so she followed him for a few steps and insisted on a comment.

The footage shows Pullicino stopping in his tracks, quite literally blowing his top off, calling her arrogant and rude for stopping him for a comment while he was talking on the phone. Patronizingly, he tells her that he would have given her a comment had she waited for him to get off the phone, but then he is seen walking away, shouting back at her from a distance and approaching two policemen, presumably asking them to do something about the 'grave' matter. He then walked back into Parliament and asked the Speaker to investigate.

Now I don't know about you, but when I want to avoid someone, the first thing I do is to reach for my phone. And this is precisely why we see so many politicians walking out of Parliament holding a phone to their ear. It's media avoidance 101, and if journalists have the good manners not to approach politicians holding phones to their ear, they are unlikely to ever get a comment from Members of Parliament who are trying to avoid them.

Keep in mind that before this 'grave incident', Minister Konrad Mizzi was found to be in breach of privilege for comments he had passed about George Pullicino. Earlier that week, during what was probably another exciting debate in Parliament, Dr Mizzi had said that a number of businessmen had spoken to him about Mr Pullicino in a negative way, but because Mizzi had failed to substantiate his allegations, he was found in breach of privilege and the case was referred to the Privileges Committee.

Yawn. How's that for some more waste of time?

But anyway, Pullicino should have been as happy as a lark after such an outcome, but for some reason he wasn't. Maybe it had something to do with the fact that during the same debate, Dr Mizzi revealed that an audit investigation had found "shameful irregularities" in a €35 million contract which was awarded by Pullicino's Ministry during the PN's last few days in government. Who knows?

My main concern here is not partisan in nature, and nor is it personal. I have never met Nicole Buttigieg in my life, and I would have written the same thing had it been anyone else from either side because my concern is for democracy and the media's important role in it.

The media form the backbone of democracy. The media supply, or rather, should supply, political information that voters can base their decisions on. It is the media's responsibility to identify issues that they think will interest the public, to serve as watchdogs, and to be our eyes and ears, not unlike surveillance officers. It is also the media's responsibility to provide a basis for debates with different points of views.

But all this is hardly possible if journalists are not bold enough to hold officials to account and push them for answers. Sometimes this requires being what in other scenarios would be considered rude, but I'd rather have rude journalists than spineless ones.