Foreign Minister George Vella hit the headlines for saying that “we must control the media” (irridu nikkontrollaw il-media).

He made the remarks in parliament on Wednesday night, and said that the media “must be reined in” and followed it up with “we must control the media”. Dr Vella subsequently claimed that he had been misquoted by this publishing house’s news portal and was asked by the Speaker of the House as to whether he wanted to file for breach of privilege. He said that he had been quoted wrongly and that his appeal was for the media to be more self-regulating. Recordings (recorded and broadcast by parliament) reproduced by our portal show that it was not the case. Dr Vella had said that the media should be controlled.

In his speech in parliament, Dr Vella said:  “One can be more aggressive through the media than through talking alone. The media cannot be used for character assassinations on the one hand, whilst striving for cooperation on the other.”

He said that media will only foment bad blood if not reined in. His speech in parliament came after volleys of criticism after revelations that he is continuing to see patients after being appointed minister. He has also been lambasted for banning mobile phones from his office. “There is already a bad perception about the political class,” Dr Vella said. Dr Vella did concede that the media is “the fourth pillar of democracy.” He did not elaborate on how the media should be controlled initially, but later said he meant that media should be more self-regulating.

“We will be an open government,” Dr Vella promised. 

We believe that this was a case of Dr Vella’s emotions having gotten the better of him – and it is not the first time. Many might remember the harsh criticism he had in store for university students when they had booed and jeered former PL leader Alfred Sant during a debate on campus in the run-up to the 2008 election.

We sincerely hope that Dr Vella got muddled up and said the wrong thing. The media in Malta are self regulating, as well as being bound by the regulations of the Press Act. We are also one of the few countries in the world where criminal libel is not a dead letter law. As we also published today, the media is also liable to scrutiny from parliament which may still refer cases to court. This is the reality of media regulation in Malta, and it does not exactly allow a free hand.

Perhaps George Vella meant to say one thing, and not the other. But it is not acceptable to turn round and tell parliament he was misquoted, when he clearly was not. But perhaps the most worrying aspect of Dr Vella’s speech was the tone he used. It was reminiscent of times gone by, a tone that the PL government said was not part of its new make-up.

We agree wholeheartedly with Dr Vella in that media houses need to be responsible, self regulating and subject to checks and balances. But for him to blame the media for misquoting him when it did not, is simply not on.