The GWU-owned L-orizzont, which is basically a Labour Party newspaper posing as an independent publication, has kept up a constant attack on independent newspapers, namely The Malta Independent and Times of Malta, for many months.

There were instances in the past where our journalists were called out by name and branded as traitors and enemies of the state. The reason: they carried out their duties and acted, as the media should, as watchdogs on the authorities. We took this in our stride and carried on, even if the temptation to escalate things was strong.

During the past five weeks the editor of this ‘independent’ newspaper L-orizzont renewed his attack on the free press for the simple reason that, instead of talking only about the government surplus and the achievements in the civil liberties sector, we were also uncovering cases of corruption and reporting on leaked FIAU reports – reports that shed light on the shady dealings of a number of individuals close to the Prime Minister, and which led to three magisterial inquiries.

Before the country headed to the polls, this newspaper took a clear stand against corruption, a stand we still hold on to now. We do not subscribe to the idea that, because people confirmed Muscat at the helm of this country, we should give up and shut up, that we should cower in shame and apologise to the public. The corruption that existed before the election, as documented in various FIAU reports, still exists. As long as corruption exists our job is not done.

But the editor of L-orizzont seems to think differently. Over the past two days he has launched a savage and unprecedented attack on The Malta Independent and Times of Malta, singling out editors and journalists, and calling for our resignation. The editor, who we shall not call out by name (for we refuse to stoop to his levels), accused us of being biased, of misleading people, of being traitors and a part of a ‘diabolical establishment.’ The country cannot become the best in the world, he said, with people like us running around.

Many people came out in our defence, encouraged us to soldier on and advised us not to take heed of these ramblings, but that did not stop the orizzont editor from publishing an equally shameful editorial yesterday, in which he implied that we should ‘disappear’ from the journalistic profession and that the country cannot move forward with ‘snakes’ like us running around.

The editor had the gall to speak about national reconciliation while at the same time saying that independent journalists who stood up against corruption should disappear.

The thing is we will not disappear, we will not shut up and we will not sing only the government’s praises while letting corruption go unchecked just like L-orizzont does on a daily basis.

L-orizzont is, and has always been a Labour Party propaganda outlet, so we can understand why its editor finds it so hard to understand the role of the independent media in a democratic country. The role we played, for instance, when we reported the Swissleaks, including that two former PN ministers had secret companies in Switzerland with unaccounted funds.

We accept criticism but this editor’s manic ramblings have now crossed all lines.

The language used is so extreme that even the General Workers Union, the owner of said newspaper, disassociated itself from the editorial.

Even Prime Minister Joseph Muscat, when asked at a press conference yesterday, said he disapproved of the language used in L-orizzont’s editorials. It means a lot coming from a Prime Minister who himself used foul language against his adversary moments after a debate with Simon Busuttil.

The PM is calling for national reconciliation and he is right in doing so. The electoral campaign was a bitter one and the country needs some time to heal. But this aim cannot be achieved if the GWU newspapers use this heavy rhetoric, as if we lived in Kim Jong-Un’s North Korea, rather than Malta.

This aim cannot be reached if journalists, instead of fulfilling their role to inform and educate, waste their time attacking their media colleagues just because of differing political opinions.

Most of all, we cannot reach national reconciliation if sections of the media renege on their role to be part of a democracy’s system of checks and balances and instead resort to insults, brainwashing and incitement.