A young boy came to our offices one day last week. He is working on a school project on communications, and he chose newspapers as the type of media he wants to tackle. He came to interview me about my job and my views on journalism in general. It is always a pleasure to see young ones interested in what my profession is all about.
One of the questions he asked me was: “What do you dislike most in journalism?” and my answer to this – and this is my standard reply when I am asked such a question – was blatant and deliberate lies.
One of the first things I learnt in my job is that comments are free but facts are sacred. Everyone is entitled to an opinion but, when reporting or making statements, journalists must stick to the facts. This is the basis of journalistic ethics.
We had a bad example of this last week, from Massimo Giletti, who conducts Rai Uno’s Sunday afternoon programme called L’Arena. Now, Giletti no longer holds a licence to work as a journalist, since he resigned a few years ago – presumably before he was dismissed – after breaching the Italian journalists’ code of ethics four times. So that tells you a lot about his conduct.
Still, I understand that all TV presenters, whether they are journalists or not, should follow strict guidelines when it comes to presenting ‘facts’ to their panel of guests, as well as to the listening public. Before saying something, they should check whether or not it is true, something that Giletti failed to do in this particular case. Then, if presented with evidence that suggests otherwise, or denials to their statements, they should have the guts to retract their falsities and apologise. Giletti lied about Malta, and then did not have the guts to say sorry.
Massimo, Giletti’s name, in Italian means “greatest”. Well, Massimo did not live up to his name at all in this circumstance.
What I find strange is not Giletti’s performance, but Rai’s silence regarding it. As can be seen elsewhere in this newspaper, I sent questions to the Italian state television station to find out what action they will be taking against Giletti, but no reply has been forthcoming.
It is a shame that Rai allows such behaviour. We have all grown up with Rai in our homes, and have always respected the Italian national station as being a serious medium. But this latest incident has dented our esteem, especially because Rai has not issued a statement to disassociate itself from Giletti’s remarks, nor has it offered an apology to the Maltese government and people.
Giletti has become a household name in Malta for the wrong reasons: for saying that immigrants from North Africa go to Lampedusa because the Maltese armed forces shoot at them.
This outrageous remark forced the government to immediately intervene during the same programme through our Ambassador to Italy Walter Balzan, while Italy’s Ambassador to Malta, Efisio Luigi Marras, tried his best to distance the Italian government from Giletti’s statement. Mr Marras’ comments and subsequent letter to the media showed great embarrassment that his country had been drawn into a dispute with Malta over the serious and wrongful allegations made by the TV presenter.
What was even more disgraceful was Giletti’s failure to apologise for what he had said. Rather than show remorse for his statement, he attempted to ridicule Mr Balzan and insisted that Malta must be doing something to keep immigrants away from its shores. Malta has always acted within the confines of international law when dealing with immigrants, as happened in the days after Giletti’s remarks, when 800 immigrants were brought to shore here.
Giletti’s stupid and shameful comment could have created a diplomatic incident between two countries that enjoy splendid relations and that share the same immigration problem. If Giletti had looked at a map, he would have easily realised that Lampedusa is much closer to Tunisia than Malta, and that it is “on the way” between Tunisia and Italy. He should get some lessons in geography before making such gratuitous statements. But perhaps he is too busy keeping his all-year-round tan and looks to bother.
I must say that I have never had a high opinion of Giletti. He is pretentious, arrogant and makes the mistake of wanting to speak more than his guests, rather than act as a real moderator. While I understand that, in his role, he has to offer an opinion as part of formulating questions, he often gives more importance to his personal views than to what others think about the subject under discussion.
He is a far cry from the likes of Gianni Mina’ and Bruno Vespa, both of whom have never fallen into the trap of trying to be the protagonists of their show. I am sure that neither of them would have stooped as low as Giletti, and if they had made the same mistake, they would have been the first to admit their wrongdoing when confronted with the truth. More to the point, like the serious journalists they are, they check their facts before they speak.
But not Giletti. He is too full of himself to believe that he is ever capable of making a wrong statement. Rather than retract or offer the hint of an apology, Giletti kept insisting on the stand he had taken, perhaps thinking that he could belittle Malta. By doing so, he dug a deeper hole for himself.
Unfortunately, Malta has had to intervene several times to deny reports in international media ever since the crisis in Libya erupted. On several occasions, the government has had to issue statements to refute news reports on foreign news stations, in particular Al-Jazeera.
It is a pity that some people in the media resort to untruthful reports just for the sake of trying to be first with the news while others, like Giletti, blatantly disregard the basic ethics in the comments they make.
Facts should always be reported, but they have to be checked and double-checked before they are aired or printed.
[email protected]