Last Saturday during my programme on Radju Malta, Ghandi xi Nghid I discussed the boundless debate on the role of the media in society (http://andrewazzopardi.org/ghandi-x-nghid-radio-show/), the so called fourth estate (some even claim that a fifth estate is in the making). 

This theme definitely calls for some reflection, bearing in mind that the media is being put at par with established institutions that are there to regulate, control and align our communities.

Then again I need to frontward a disclaimer before going any further. 

Even though I have been involved in the media, anchoring, presenting and producing radio and TV programmes for over 12 years and running my own blog (www.andrewazzopardi.org) for another four, publishing opinion/talking points steadily in most news portals and papers, I still feel that there is an expansive difference in the media configuration between the journalists, who are there to dig up and chase the story and people like myself who anchor programs, have an opinion to share and are completely disconnected from any editorial direction. 

The two are needed but let's not confuse journalists who are there by profession, having done the formal training before during and/or after moving onto a newsroom and the opinion makers/commentators who sit at their office on a Sunday morning scribbling deliberations with no strings attached.

Back to the focal point of this article.

These last months we have had a barrage of stories about people in power or position leaving their spouses for pastures anew, being accused of infidelity, reputable priests blamed for corrupt practices and others indicted of abuse, laymen from religious societies charged with exploitation of minors, educators in the pursuit of amorous adventures - in any case, fodder for the media!

Probably there wasn't a single day in these last months where we didn't hold our breath as we saw one headline after another surfacing gossip, rumours and tittle-tattle referring to them as irregularities, illegalities, immoralities.

Now I do respect the fact that the media plays a crucial role in shaping public opinions and perceptions but we need to be aware that the priorities are picked out on an editorial choice based on beliefs, viewpoints and yes, marketable interests.

The media seems to have taken this fourth estate thingamabob role very seriously and have gone over the top and turned into a judge and jury in a number of cases, taking the 'grueling' certitude to slam names and faces to front pages, thumping sordid headlines and catch phrases in the process - all in the name of the right to freedom of information. 

The suspects are drawn before the lens and scrutinized to the minute detail (as per journalist pursuit obviously) even if the situation in its totality is far from clear and most of the facts are still not forthcoming.  This only leads to an abasement of pride and mortification which ends in lowliness.

Now whilst in the main I do go halves with people who claim that editorial direction needs to be declared and a decision taken I will not go with the line of reasoning that the motivation behind flattening people is for the greater good of the public interest.  This is a falsehood of mega proportions - let's face it, the benefits for newsrooms have first and foremost turned into how favorable web analytics, readership, listeners, views and advertising are.   

As consumers of media and being such an inward-looking community we are never satiated and the more given the more people want.  If truth be told 'tabloidisim and kitschy sensationalism is seeping into the most highly regarded newsrooms to ensure they don't lose readership. 

Public voyeurism seems to take centre stage in such circumstances and taking outlandish editorial positions become defensible and warranted.

With all of this comes the call for the gallows, for the humiliation of those under scrutiny. 

Some media editors might find this analysis as objectionable but now that I have been in this business for a good share I cannot but say that most of what happens in front of us depends on back room commercialization. 

The media is drifting away from its mission - and the worse thing of all is that it rationalizes this wandering.  The reasoning is tied around the notion that if the story can do 'us' any good in terms of popularity standings, let it be.

To contend with this the citizens should be trained into media education, to process the truth from the packaging, the lies from the exactness.  I really feel that citizens should 'not' remain silent.

We need to realize that our media is projecting horrific imagery all the time.  The cameras, the newspapers, the radios all play on our tang for 'the jugular', and we hit and refresh all the time.  This is not just in relation to wars and tragedies but I'm also speaking about people's pains and sufferings and misery.

But like the distinguished John Pilger I do believe that people need to be made aware that they are well ahead and that the media shouldn't be allowed to take over, control what we think and how we imagine the world we live in.  They should not be the ones that are allowed to lay out the agenda and we should stop conducting ourselves like the disreputable Naghag ta' Bendu - we are better than that.

Whilst recognizing that the media has the power to influence I also think that if people stand up to its manipulation the community can start taking benefit of this hallowed fourth estate. 

Andrew Azzopardi presents Ghandi xi Nghid on Radju Malta and lectures at the University of Malta