In Malta we boast a logic all our own which makes it possible for the country to endure any amount of problems while proceeding at a terrific pace as if all is wonderful, all is good, all is golden.
This logic, of course, is what is fed into the brains of the people day in day out by the national TV and radio stations which are government instruments of propaganda. If, up to a few years ago, their pro-government bias was rather subtle, it has now adopted a North Koreanesque approach.
On TVM there is never anything investigative that could shame or find fault with the governing party; and few, if any, proper discussion programmes are aired. Even that accursed, patronising programme Xarabank, with its village-bar-brawling-style discussions, would be a breath of wonderfully fresh air, were it to be re-introduced.
With the masses being fed garbage, it is next to impossible to get the same masses to reason critically. The alternative to the national broadcaster is so limited and so little followed that TVM and its radio equivalent have become the principal source of news for a huge majority of the population.
According to the latest Broadcasting Authority survey, television has remained the country’s main news supplier, with 54% of Maltese saying it is their first choice.
And the analysis of those figures for news on TV shows that 56% follow TVM news. One TV has 22% and Net 20% thus basically balancing each other out with TVM totally dominating the figures and the minds of the people.
Politicians in Malta are rarely properly grilled. This is not entirely the news gatherers’ fault, as our politicians have a way with the media to either just disregard it or to never answer questions which could be too uncomfortable.
When the Jean Paul Sofia public inquiry report was published, the politicians – the Labour Party ministers and MPs – brushed off all pertinent questions posed by the reporters waiting for their entry to or exit from Parliament.
Even uttering the word apology seemed anathema. Only one did so and admitted outright, when asked if he felt ashamed for having voted against the setting up of a public enquiry.
The man who uttered the words “I feel ashamed” was hailed as a national hero. Which just shows what a travesty of reality we are living through. It is a case of surreal horror: seeing the ministers and MPs act so calmly and saying meaningless words feels amoral. Plenty of legalistic, verbose, undignified words. When they should at least apologise and at best resign and never be seen in public life again.
In this surreal state of affairs TVM or its radio stations were, of course, not the ones asking the pertinent questions outside parliament. Why would they bother? Why get the great numbers of their followers to maybe question the way government ministers are behaving? Why question anything?
An apology now, whether uttered obliquely by the prime minister or his goons, will hardly set things right. That no one in Cabinet has resigned is a sad sign of our times, times which are sadly now tainted with blood.
Two public inquiries have now definitively found the state of Malta – not just one individual – responsible for the horrific deaths of Daphne Caruana Galizia and Jean Paul Sofia.
Interestingly, the Labour Government had tried with all its might to block the two inquiries. In light of the conclusions of these inquiries, even more guilt and a terrible shadow have been cast on the ministers and the MPs supporting the government.
By not admitting guilt, by not feeling ashamed of the horror of what has been concluded by the experts, these ministers, by some twisted logic, seem to feel that they are not part of the state.
With Malta going ever further down the slope of illogic, it is no wonder that people still think we have a super-efficient and effective government.
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