Soon after being confirmed as Prime Minister in March 2008, Lawrence Gonzi visited the offices of the Malta Environment and Planning Authority, inviting the media for the event but then not allowing time for questions. Barely a month had passed from the election that day, and the media wanted more information on the reform that the government had promised to embark upon before polling day – a reform which, incidentally, is long overdue since it was supposed to be in place at the end of last year.
That time, The Malta Independent had editorially criticised the fact that the PM had refused to take questions, and had hoped that such an incident would not have happened again.
Unfortunately, it has, and this time, it was probably worse.
Last Wednesday, the media was invited to attend the launch of the local councils reform, another reform that was scheduled to have been completed by the end of last year but took another four months to be finished. The Department of Information said that it was a full media coverage event, organised by the Office of the Prime Minister, which includes the parliamentary
secretariat which was responsible for the drawing up of the changes that will be taken before Parliament to renew the way local councils operate.
The event was not labelled as a press conference; and in fact it was more of a presentation to the mayors and executive secretaries by the Prime Minister and PS Chris Said. On such occasions, however, it is normal for journalists to be given time to seek further information. But, after their presentation – with Dr Gonzi practically repeating what Dr Said had said earlier, an exercise which took more than an hour – journalists were informed that they would not have been allowed to ask questions.
They were simply told that they would have been able to speak to Dr Said in his office – but this was possible only after the PS made his rounds among the mayors. Most of the journalists, including the one representing The Malta Independent, left Castille without going to Dr Said’s office.
It is a real pity that no lessons were learnt from the Mepa incident last year. The media cannot continue to be treated with this kind of arrogance. The media’s time is as precious as anyone else’s, and it must be allowed to carry out its role as the watchdog for society. If journalists are not going to be permitted to ask questions, then it is pointless requesting their presence. A press release would be enough.
The government should appreciate the role of the media, and not simply use it, or try to use it, for its own convenience. Journalists should be respected, and they should be allowed to seek clarifications and ask all the questions they would like to have answered. After all, these are the questions that people ask too, and the journalists are there to do this job.
If the OPM and parliamentary secretariat thought that having journalists asking questions in the presence of the mayors would not have been appropriate, then another solution should have been found.
Why wasn’t a presentation held for the mayors, with this followed up by a separate press conference? And, if there were time restrictions for the PM – who left the hall soon after finishing his address – then another day could have been chosen or else Dr Said could have handled the press conference on his own.
As it happened, journalists were not in a position to carry out their duties with respect to their readers’ or viewers’ expectations. And many of the questions they had remain unanswered.