Proposition no. 1: I hold you fully responsible to ensure that justice is done.
No. 2: I have no trust at all in you.
No. 3: As I have no trust at all in you, I surely will not hand you material essential to the work you are expected to carry out and I surely cannot entrust you with it.
No. 4: You are not ensuring that justice is done. It still has not been done.
No. 5: You see now how right I was to have no trust at all in you.
No. 6: The responsibilty to ensure that justice is done remains fully yours. It is shameful that you are not carrying out your duty on this matter.
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AUTISM
An activity organized on the parvis of the St George Preca church at Swatar last Sunday by the Malta Autism Centre run by Melvin Attard highlighted autism and what should be done to deal with the condition.
Children who have it are among the most intelligent but they need - quite like as in the case of dyslexics - personalised support to be able to develop their individual talents. There is a substantial minority in all age groups with autism. We cannot leave members of this minority deprived of the backing that would allow them to eventually give their contribution to society.
As in other "social" fields, more human, material and financial means should be devoted to such end. Meanwhile, it is best to fully recognize voluntary initiatives in this sector. Beyond a financial contribution from the state (and it would be better if this is granted without delays), there should be no objection... to the contrary... if the voluntary sector that is active gets fully consulted and involved whenever proposals are being fleshed out to improve the law and policies related to autism.
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MEDIA AND IMMIGRANTS
By way of preparation for a seminar about the media and immigration in the Mediterranean that was to be held at the European Parliament, I consulted a study document financed among others by the European Commission and published in 2017. It consists mostly of reports and analyses on a country-by-country basis describing how the media deal with the phenomenon of Mediterranean migration.
The Malta report written by Mark Micallef is extremely interesting. It gives an extensive summary of how immigration "towards" Malta developed over the years and how it was reported by the local broadcasting and press services. It stresses the limited resources of the press and other journalistic media which means that they cannot really allow for reporting based on longterm research. Still, praiseworthy efforts have been made by individual journalists to gather wideranging information about immigrants that goes beyond day to day events, to give a closer picture of realities on the ground.
However, one factor that emerges from Micallef's report as well as those of others who discussed the situation in other countries, is that journalism must focus on the issues which attract public attention on a daily basis. Often, these end up as stories that carry negative news.