From Mr C.J. Buttigieg

In a letter to The Times, John Schembri from Zurrieq referred to Dr Alfred Sant as “an insensitive convalescent patient in hospital, the Doctor with a DBA from Harvard”. On 10 January, The Times published my condemnatory letter aimed at John Schembri and other contributors who, like him, insensitively and savagely attack “the singer not the song”, a one-liner I borrowed from an old Spencer Tracey film and frequently use.

Unscrupulously, on 20 January, the same person sent a letter to this paper (entitled “Unethical tactics”) after he was disappointed (sic) with a comment made by Jason Micallef on Bondiplus referring to the physical appearance of a Malta Independent contributor whom John Schembri glorified as “one of your best columnists”.

I do not want to give the impression that I condone the comments made by the Labour representative, even though it is natural that what goes around comes around like a boomerang. Daphne Caruana Galizia, with her insults and hateful adjectives – particularly against Dr Sant – must have heard it coming.

What is equally offensive is the attitude of the likes of John Schembri who expect us to accept their double standards. They rush to the media to condemn others, at the same time finding no kindness within themselves to refrain from personal insults and propagating the health misfortunes of others. A political adversary is also a human being and deserves to be given dignity. Worse still, they idolise gutter journalists and elevate them with superlative attributes like “the best columnist” which, in itself, translates to an insult to decent, sensitive and professional journalists.

Halfway through his letter, your contributor unashamedly declared that by choosing to attack “the singer not the song”, Jason Micallef gave people the impression that when a person such as he feels threatened, his only way out is by a personal attack on the writer. Yet he praised Daphne Caruana Galizia and raised her to the status of best columnist.

I put a simple question to Mr Schembri. Were Dr Sant the Archbishop of Malta instead of the leader of the MLP while Daphne Caruana Galizia, with her credentials, belonged to a different religion, would he still glorify her with the same attributes?

I declare that I firmly believe we cannot have a democracy without the freedom of the press and I am totally against censorship. However, I also believe that, in a civil society, a reputable newspaper should be more selective in what it publishes and should leave out the notorious and the hate- monger gutter contributors.

Charles J. Buttigieg

MELLIEHA