Many, who like me, have grown up working in the media since their teenage years, will tell you that things have changed. For the better technically, professionally, academically and possibly economically, but certainly for the worse as regards taste, ethics and the old camaraderie journalists always enjoyed. Perhaps it is time to rethink the whole circus before it is too late.

It is sad to watch the media and the politics that surround it getting so personal. Things we’ve always hated about the gutter press and junk television elsewhere have sadly taken root rapidly here in recent years, with the authorities, particularly the courts, caught in a quandary as to what to do about it. There are just too many loopholes, too many contradictions and too many inconsistencies. The news portals, with their hunger for per-minute stories, have taken the profession to the edge of what we took for reasonable reporting and good taste, and the result today is a confusing, on-going battle for ever-changing headlines... and a growing number of hits.

The worst “hit”, though, has been the individual, the person caught wrong-footed somewhere or mistakenly taken for a target by the media snipers that go by various names, from columnist, blogger and journalist to reporter, producer and analyst!

A story is a story, of course, and no one in his right mind would expect anyone in the media to overlook it. The media needs constant fodder and it has been made to work more ruthlessly to obtain it, contrary to past decades when a story was put on hold until facts were seriously checked out or the editor felt the timing had to be right before it went public. There are no such considerations any more, alas.

But while the media rightly combs society in search of more and more stories to tell and revelations to make, it is also duty bound to be fair to all parties concerned in a given story. This is a process that also needs the support of a fairer justice system where each and every one of us is truly treated the same way.

While minors’ names are rightly always withheld, journalists are often baffled by court decisions that dictate which adult person’s name should be withheld and which other adult person’s shouldn’t. Family connections? Financial clout? I have never been able to comprehend the method that often leads to a situation, as we have seen in the past few days, where a person’s identity is revealed on the basis of his or her being a public figure, while the accuser’s name is withheld.

The result is an inevitable emotional mess. Public figures, from politicians and actors to doctors, surgeons and footballers, are prematurely vilified in the media before they are proved guilty or innocent. We used to sneer when such tactics were adopted and such attitudes were taken in the media, particularly the tabloids, of places like Italy and the UK. It is sad to think that most of our media has taken this same downward road to injustice.

I am all out for public figures to be named and shamed after they’ve been found guilty, but trial by media is a no-no. There is just too much pain involved for families and loved ones, while an “innocent” verdict very often and disturbingly fails to completely remove the undeserved stain. Is this really the role of the modern media? Is this what we want from our traditional and electronic media? I certainly hope not.

The Biblical maxim, “Let any one of you who is without sin throw the stone” applies perfectly here. It is why there is an urgent need for a legally-recognised, court-supported national code of ethics that no media prima donna can refuse to submit to. A lot of work has already been carried out by trusted professionals in the sector. It is indeed time to rethink it all.

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People haters

Still on the media, it seems that every country has to have its people haters posing as journalists, social commentators and under other different guises. They write vindictive stuff that stirs the curiosity of many and they project their prejudices and their venom randomly for the rest of us to squirm in utter frustration.

The latest missive by the British media’s so-called personality Katie Hopkins has her claiming that the UK has “far too many old people” and she would be “super keen on euthanasia vans” to eradicate the problem.

The controversial newspaper columnist, who, as pointed out in this same space a few weeks ago, only recently apologized for the language in her inflammatory piece which referred to immigrants attempting to cross the Mediterranean as “cockroaches”, and that it was “ridiculous” that animals could be put to sleep, “but not people”.

In an interview with the Radio Times, she argued that although medical science allowed people to live longer, that didn’t necessarily mean it was the right path to choose. “We just have far too many old people,” she said. “It’s ridiculous to be living in a country where we can put dogs to sleep but not people.”

These are shocking statements even for people who, like yours truly, think euthanasia is a person’s right to a dignified way of exiting life when it gets too painful and cruel.

Hopkins unfortunately throws a black veil over the issue and turns it into an almost surreal, sci-fi situation that reminds one of that cult TV series “The Prisoner” where the protagonist, Patrick McGoohan, or Number Six as he became to be known for the rest of his career, keeps shouting “I’m not a number, I’m a human being”.

To call for euthanasia vans, “just like ice-cream vans playing a nice little tune”, scouring the country in search of old people to put to sleep is not only an insult to a society that continues to work hard to extend healthy life but also a shameless disservice to those who believe in the right to a dignified exit to end extreme and unnecessary suffering.

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A nation’s thoughts

As both a popular doctor and a respected politician, George Vella has given Malta, and with her the Labour Party, a service that few can equal. He is known for his hard-work maxim as well as his sincere, straightforward approach to problems that inevitably occur in the public fields that he has been working in for so many years.

The news of his sudden ill-health while on official work in China as our Minister for Foreign Affairs, inevitably brought to the fore the whole nation’s concern and people’s immediate best wishes for a quick recovery.

George Vella has served, and hopefully will continue to serve, Malta and the Maltese well. He more than deserves the thoughts and prayers people have accorded to him since the cardiac intervention he has had to undergo in Beijing.