I would like to make some suggestions to the PN about its bad financial situation. It might not amount to much, and to all intents and purposes it might have already been thought of by the current leaders but in that case no harm done. I had already given this advice some years ago but I think that today it is even more relevant. The PN is a political party with a long tradition. Its main function in society is political. As a political party it has surrounded itself with all the trappings needed to deliver its political message to Maltese society. Political parties are very important in a democratic environment and one cannot think of sound political systems without political parties.

Unlike many, I am not sceptical of political parties, as it is through them that many political changes are brought about. I believe in them wholeheartedly and have seen many of them change for the better over time. Of course all political parties acquire excess baggage and end up making mistakes from time to time, but it is not the falling down that counts in the final analysis but the getting up. The Labour Party rose to the challenge during the last 25 years when it was obvious it had to change its behemoth image, structures, ideologically outdated thought and behaviour. The PN now has to face a somewhat similar challenge although I would say not to the same degree, as the political history of both parties is rather different.

I believe the PN should gain much by the overhaul of its media. All the written, auditory and visual media are of utmost importance today, of course not forgetting the other social media such as the Internet, but I sincerely believe that a paradigm shift is necessary in the type of message given to today’s generations. There is no longer today the need for strong partisan political messages, which only help to satisfy the party faithful and does no good in winning a general election. The PN needs to revamp its message into a moderate one, faithful to the truth and respecting its followers’ intelligence. This means that the PN needs to moderate the partisan tone of its message significantly but of course give a message with the resultant political information (some would say bent!) it wants to give, never at the expense of truth itself.

I sincerely believe, without hoping to insult all those who I am sure have given their best, that the party alone will be incapable of arriving at this as the exigencies of politics will always force it back to the fully partisan message. It needs a strategic partner from the private sphere that will act as a restraint to the overtly partisan message while at the same time considering the editorial political opinion of the PN as well. Therefore I sincerely believe that the PN should sell its media, especially television, and find a strategic commercial partner without completely relinquishing the right to approve the final editorial content. This will of necessity have to be toned down if it wants to sell. Enough shares should be kept by the PN to keep its finger in the pie but allow the stations a more commercial and non-partisan approach together with owners who also have an eye on using the media to make a profit.

As I said earlier, the strategic partners have to be properly chosen, in not being too far from the PN’s political base, but rather with an eye on selling the stations profitably rather than simply politically. Italy’s Mediaset stations come to mind! This approach should also free the party to do more politics and also fill in the now empty coffers at PN headquarters. This is just an honest suggestion, which would of course require courage and market research to bring about, but I doubt that it is beyond being feasible. If of course it is considered too anathema then let the advice go to the rubbish bin and be considered as a touch of the summer sun.

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