I recently met a dear old friend who I hadn’t seen for a very long time. After the usual niceties we got down to the issues which concern him most. The first thing he mentioned was how personal issues are becoming public through blogs and bloggers.

Of course I have my personal views and concerns about the matter.

I find it completely unacceptable that Muscat pays a hefty salary to a man who spends most of his day blogging gossip on public and not so public individuals. The venom which such blogs instigate in readers is evident in the comments (mostly anonymous or using a fake profile) which appear under the blogger’s main articles.

Of course many will argue that Glenn Bedingfield’s blogs are to counter Daphne Caruana Galizia. Frankly I don’t think that the argument holds water. Caruana Galizia is a freelancer and is self-employed. To my knowledge, she does not earn her pay from any political party and surely not from the government, particularly the Prime Minister’s Office.

Having said that, I must add that although I admire Ms Caruana Galizia for having unveiled (singlehandedly) some of the biggest scandals in Maltese political history, I don’t agree with her when she goes personal.

Frankly, I have no wish to see photos of Manuel Mallia in his swimming trunks at the beach with his family. There is no public interest. The only public significance of such stories is that Glenn Bedingfield feels the road is clear to upload similar pictures of other persons and argues that this invasion of privacy is justified.

Similarly I think the story about the Prime Minister having a burger in Rome was uncalled for. But his family trip to Dubai (within the Panama Papers context) was more than justified. There is a public interest in knowing whether that very expensive holiday was paid for by someone else.

Glenn Bedingfield’s latest attack on Simon Busuttil’s sister is deplorable. Her ex-husband’s appeal for his family to be left in peace is falling on deaf ears.

Even the President’s appeal on this matter back in June was totally ignored. President Coleiro Preca was very clear when she appealed, “Don’t protect those who use the social media to shatter private lives.”

There is a clear red line which is being crossed. I feel this is very harmful not just to people who are already in the public eye. It will also repel many potential contributors to public life, who would not now dream of giving service to our country, precisely because they do not want their private life to be ruthlessly exposed in the public domain.

Social media in the public domain is a useful tool which has, however, become a hateful weapon. Those of us in public life who have managed to live our domestic lives normally, until now, are now feeling pressured and even intimidated.

Before entering politics I had a twenty-year career in the media and I never felt my privacy threatened as much as I feel it is today. Our close friends and families have a right to enjoy our company in tranquillity without the fear of being photographed or filmed by some unknown coward who finds it amusing to invade people’s privacy.

I strongly appeal for a more prudent and respectful approach by whoever is responsible for making public what is truly and fundamentally private.