“Can you remind people exactly how many big significant interviews Liz Truss has done?”, Andrew Marr asked Andrew Neill. “I think that would be zero”, Neill curtly replied.
The same applies to Robert Abela. The difference is that Truss was prime minister for only six weeks. Abela has been prime minister for close to three years. He has doggedly refused to hold a single interview with the independent media. Abela has too much to hide. No wonder he’s been running scared from a proper interview for years.
“Because the proper big forensic interviews would probably have rumbled her”, Andrew Neill added. Ditto for Robert. He’s a chicken, avoiding independent journalists, refusing invitations to be interviewed, completely ignoring requests and arrogantly failing to even acknowledge journalists’ repeated reminders.
“Do you think putting yourself up for interview is something that every senior politician should do?”, Marr asked. “Yes, of course, letting the public see if they know what they’re talking about. It was clear in the leadership campaign trail that Liz Truss did not know what she was talking about, particularly about economics. Now we’ve discovered that she didn’t know what she was talking about - hence the current mess we’re in”, Neill replied.
“This (the interview) is an important democratic part of our political culture … it was mainly dismantled by a certain Boris Johnson, who’s now thinking of running again”. That situation is almost a mirror image of what’s happening in Malta. Abela’s predecessor Joseph Muscat set his successor the example of avoiding and ignoring journalists’ requests for a proper interview. Muscat arrogantly ignored all requests. He even refused to participate in a Leaders’ debate with Simon Busuttil on the eve of the 2017 Egrant election. He declined to participate in Times Talk and his office ignored repeated invitations to participate. He was empty chaired by the Times’ Hermann Grech.
Abela picked up where his master left. During the leadership race he adamantly refused to give any interviews with the independent media. He didn’t even bother to invite the media to his campaign launch. He failed to answer most requests. He failed to turn up for an event where businessmen were invited to pose questions to him and Chris Fearne, despite having accepted the invitation. While Chris Fearne attended and answered all questions put to him, Abela cowardly pulled out of the event the night before.
On 7th January 2020, days before the leadership vote, Abela finally agreed to sit down to an interview. “I have no problem giving you an interview, but surely you can wait a few days - we’ll agree on a date and you’ll have your interview”, Abela told The Malta Independent. The newspaper proposed several dates on which to hold the interview. Abela failed to reply. Even before winning that leadership vote Abela was breaking his word.
“I have respect for the media as long as it is independent and neutral”, Abela commented. What’s neutral? Is it asking easy questions intended to boost his image as ONE journalists are skilled at doing? Is it sucking up to him and glorifying his attributes? And who decides what’s independent and neutral, Robert Abela?
Despite making all sorts of excuses - “I started my campaign late, I had a lot of people to meet” - Abela found time to be interviewed by ONE and the pro-Labour TVM. But when requests came from the independent media he didn’t even reply to questions sent by e-mail. Instead he sounded an ominous threat - “I am keeping my distance (from independent media) intentionally to be free to take all decisions that are needed”.
In an editorial on 8th January 2020, The Malta Independent voiced its alarm. “The man who aspires to be the next Labour leader and Malta’s prime minister is already making his intentions clear - that he is waging a war against the independent media”. How right the editor was. “Is he to embark on a crusade to shut up all dissident voices? Is he planning to go for stricter laws in a bid to stifle the media? Is he planning to attempt to shut us down?”, the editorial commented. “Let us hope that we will finally get the chance to ask him and that he will reply”.
That was 2020. Almost three years later, Abela still refuses to be interviewed. He’s managed to go through an election campaign without a single interview. Like Joseph Muscat before him, Abela was empty-chaired by Mark Lawrence who conducted a fake interview with a cartoon of Abela. Abela was repeatedly invited by Times of Malta for a one-on-one interview and a feature about a day on the campaign trail. Abela refused. Most requests sent to him remained unanswered.
On the eve of the 2022 election, a frustrated journalist eventually confronted Abela. “I have answered all questions by journalists…”, Abela defended. “We want an interview” the journalist shouted. But Abela refused to commit to an interview or to acknowledge invitations and multiple subsequent reminders.
Is this the man we are now expecting to implement the Caruana Galizia inquiry recommendations? This is the man who is responsible for strengthening the protection of journalists, journalism and freedom of expression. Yet he actively obstructs and frustrates journalists from doing their duty. His open hostility towards the independent media, his threats of “taking the decisions that need to be taken”, his contempt and outright rudeness reveal one stark characteristic of the man - he doesn’t have an ounce of respect for democratic principles.
As the International Press Institute pointed out Abela has simply introduced changes that are “token gestures”. They expressed concern about the lack of implementation of the Caruana Galizia recommendations. They lamented the lack of transparency and consultation. Is anybody surprised?
Abela cannot hide his disdain and contempt for the media he considers neither “neutral” nor “independent”. His hostility stems from the knowledge that an unfettered independent media has the power to bring him down - as it did his ‘invincible’ predecessor.