It is no secret that the media industry is facing great challenges. Many newsrooms around the world, including in Malta, are feeling the pinch as people rely ever more on social media for their ‘news’ intake.
This, in turn, is leading the public and private sectors to shift their budgets away from newspapers and online portals to focus their attention elsewhere.
In Malta, we have seen how even the government and other national authorities have moved away from the print and online media, especially the independent media, and have, on the other hand, increased their advertising budgets when it comes to social media platforms like Facebook.
The main reason why advertising is favouring social media is because you can reach a wider audience for a much cheaper price.
But there could also be a more malignant reason why governments starve newsrooms of desperately needed revenue - to punish them or try and pressure them into taking a more friendly approach.
Locally, this has to be viewed in a context where public opinion of the independent media has declined. While the industry has its part of the blame to shoulder for this - after all journalists are human too and sometimes make mistakes - the political class also plays a big role here.
This is, after all, a country where government ministers facing grave corruption allegations boast about going to court to sue the hell out of a journalist instead of practicing transparency or admitting their mistake and resigning. Maltese media houses, including this one, have faced the threat of SLAPP suits, and many relished at the fact prospect of a media house being financially crippled.
This is a country where both political leaders claim to back the free press but cry ‘fake news’ every time they end up in the headlines for the wrong reasons. Both the Prime Minister and the Opposition Leader have done this.
Yes, there are times when the media gets it wrong, especially the political party media. Shooting from the hip without even attempting to verify a claim seems to be the order of the day for these outlets.
The independent media has made mistakes too, including during the 2017 general election campaign, and the sector must do a lot of soul searching.
Yet the independent media works in a very different way to party media.
As independent journalists we always strive to weed out the truth from the lies. We try and verify our leads with two, three or more sources if possible, and there are countless times when we refrain from publishing some bombshell story for the simple reason that it cannot be verified. We do this because we believe in responsible journalism.
The latter does not mean that our news content will be liked by everyone. There will always be someone who accuses us of having an agenda, but that will not stop us from doing our job to the best of our abilities.
But doing that job is becoming increasingly harder. Advertising has declined across the board, even if the independent media has experienced increases in its online audiences.
Because the industry has been in decline for a number of years, fewer youths are interested in a career in journalism. Many would prefer to seek better paying jobs in other sectors.
And democracy is suffering as a result. A strong democracy needs a well-functioning press corps.
The industry has tried to adapt to the changing landscape but has been largely unsuccessful. Many still expect the news to be free, without acknowledging the fact that behind every story there is a journalist, and a lot of hard work and research.
Something has to be done, and we believe that the state should do its part to ensure that the country has a healthy media sector.
14 European countries, as well as the United States, Canada, New Zealand and Australia have some form of media subsidisation or other measures.
The most common way of helping out the media in such countries is to remove or at least reduce the amount of VAT paid on press sales. Belgium, Denmark, the UK and Norway are four European countries where the VAT on press sales is 0%. The rates in several other countries have been slashed down considerably.
Some countries help their media industries through direct subsidies, paid out by a fund administered by the state, with rules that do not change every time there is a new party in government.
There has been a lot of talk lately about strengthening democracy and our institutions, and updating the constitution. If the government really believes in what it is preaching, it should give some form of assistance to the media sector, helping it become more credible and better equipped to act as the guardian of democracy that it is meant to be.