It is no coincidence that the last election was won by such a wide margin. The good people of Malta came under the influence of the spinmeisters, some on purpose and some from a negative reaction to their spins. Pushing and pulling delivered the result that ensued.
A year and more after that day, and the killing of Daphne in between, the spinmeisters are still spinning and the people of Malta are still at their mercy.
Having obtained, by fair means or foul, supremacy over the media, the spinmeisters ply their trade not according to the objective reality of the country and the world, but according to their own agenda. The people, the receivers, who are not aware of the games being played behind their backs, meekly follow and allow the spinmeisters to dictate the issue, how it should be looked at and perceived.
This does not mean that everything we read or see is not true. But it does mean that extra care is being taken in the way the news is presented so that the average viewer or reader gets a favourable interpretation of the news item and only that. As a result, the news bulletins are many times the blandest of the bland and tailor-made to eliminate any anxiety, anger, revulsion or outrage – all very important human states of mind and many times essential in the formation of a considered judgement.
We have, as far as I know, a quite high proportion of radio and television stations relative to the size of the population, but then most of this over-population of radio stations is just a jumble of jukeboxes, and the party political television stations cancel each other out. We as a people have not managed to support, really support, independent voices which state it as it is and who are not swayed by money or by partisan affiliation.
This problem can be found in many other countries. In Britain, for example, the tabloids have the mass audience while the quality press is restricted to a small percentage of readers. But then the British have other things we do not have. Their judges, for instance, are not political appointees or even retired politicians. If British judges feel they must reject a politician’s opinion, they do so whereas in other countries they first look to see which way the political wind is blowing.
Britain too, to keep focusing on this country, has an independent civil service whereas other countries, including ours, have a largely partisan civil service which does what the political masters decide they want.
We are independent, we are members of the European Union and the Eurozone but our institutions are being revealed as not being up to the standard that is expected of them. As a result, we have fallen under the influence of the spinmeisters because many of us cannot come up with a judgement of our own. So they take over our brains and make our decisions for us.
If one were to look at the issues that were prominent this past week, we find that such a gripping issue as Brexit, for instance, which is objectively of massive importance both to Britain and to ourselves, barely got a mention in the Maltese media, except for potted news items by foreign news agencies that have their own agenda. Nor do we find news stories about Satabank and the devastating impact the events at this bank are having on so many residents and their businesses.
Nor would one find, with just one exception, any mention of the survey carried in the latest Central Bank’s Quarterly Review which said that the retail sector has had a sudden, unexpected, drop in confidence and expectations.
All we could find were stories and then more stories about 17 Black. By the end of the week we are no nearer the truth than we were at the beginning.
And we also could find stories and then even more stories including interviews and appearances to persuade us that Adrian Delia is still alive, as a political leader that is, and that all this media blitz was no ‘dead cat bounce’.
The spinmeisters would have us believe these two issues are the real issues of the Maltese population in November 2018. Whether Delia is a real leader will be decided by the people come May, although the latest poll saw him sinking fast.
The 17 Black story, like the Egrant one before it, is a real story. It shows the crassness of a prime minister who constantly says he wants to hear the judicial outcome while backsliding with all his might (and in Malta the executive carries an inordinate power) so that the judicial outcome comes as late as possible, perhaps after he has left office.
It is a measure of our induced blindness that this story is sunk amid all the glorification of Delia through the efforts of spinmeisters all out to protect their hugely inflated packages and very little else.
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