While congratulating you for the balanced editorials, I sympathise with you and all other editors leading “truly” independent newspapers. Unlike party newspapers, which have a very clear propagandistic agenda, you have to keep a very difficult balance in what you write each day. This is definitely not an easy task especially when one considers the local hot political scene. This task becomes much more difficult during this pre-election period.

It is only through balanced opinion that we readers get to know what’s really going on in our country. Reading a pro-Nationalist daily, one gets the impression that we are living in paradise; while on the other hand reading a pro-Labour newspaper, one seems to be living in hell! The same goes to the radio and television stations. This does not happen in independent media because even through regular opinion-writers, one gets a balanced picture of the situation.

What I cannot swallow is hearing self-proclaimed analysts commenting every morning during radio and television programmes on your main stories and especially on your editorials. They have to cheek to criticise you if you genuinely praise one side for any good initiative. The same goes when your comments favours the other side.

They are ready to be arrogant and self-imposing. They show that they do not tolerate any of your comments unless it pleases their political agenda. Sometimes they show that they did not even understand the gist of your writing but simply pick on a sentence out of context. Their only intention is to propagate their party’s agenda, no matter what.

My only advice is that you keep on doing your good work with great impartiality and do not let biased journalists hijack your newspapers.

Carmel Farrugia

Sliema