Switch on to Super One television or radio and you would think that everything is going wrong in this country of ours. Tune in to NET TV or Radio 101 and you would think that we are living in a paradise.

Ever since the two major political parties have had their own media as a direct link with the public, the situation as portrayed gives the impression that we are living in different countries. What for one is black is white for the other, and vice-versa. The grey in-between is conveniently ignored.

Some say that this balances things out. But it would be good to know how many Nationalists follow Super One, and how many Labourites watch NET TV. Those who do would probably think that what is being said on their rival party’s station is not true.

And, having two stations saying that everything is OK or the other way round, depending which media one is following, does not really create equilibrium. If anything, it creates division.

The same goes for the printed media, that owned by the parties and also that run by the General Workers Union which, although independent of any political party, is known to lean towards the Malta Labour Party.

The government-owned Public Broadcasting Services is often accused by the party in opposition of being a government notice-board and that it does not give enough space to the MLP’s activities. On the other hand, it is known that there have been times when government officials have complained that PBS does not give

adequate coverage of their events.

There is then the independent press, which tries its best to give each and every side of the story, whatever that is. Some columnists writing in these newspapers represent different parties, while others are totally independent of any ties and praise or condemn matters, irrespective of who is doing what. The independent media tackles subjects and issues, not who is responsible for such. It’s the message that counts, not the messenger.

To go back to the media which is run by political parties, one understands that after all they must toe the party line and try, as much as possible, to show their own party in a good light and the opposition with its back to the wall.

But, on the other hand, we believe that they should be more open-minded and see things as they really are. They should have more respect for their viewers and listeners and make an attempt to give the other side of the story. It can’t be that the Nationalists are always wrong for Super One and that Labour is never right on NET TV. As said earlier, there is a lot in between.

What would be appreciated, for example, would be the presence of more politicians from opposing sides. There are programmes that do invite people “from the other side” to take part, but not enough – especially if they are not given as much time to air their views as the politicians from the party running the station.

It would be interesting to have Super One invite Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi for an interview and NET TV having Opposition Leader Alfred Sant as their guest. Again, such interviews should not be another chance for a grilling by journalists working for the opposing media. If they are unable to put their political ideology aside, then there are many independent journalists who could conduct such interviews.

This would only be the first step.

Unfortunately, as things stand now, the party media seems to cater only for diehard party supporters, and this should not be the case. The number of diehard supporters is much smaller than those who know that their party cannot be always right.