Half day syndrome, bureaucracy and stonewalling

One of our daily struggles as journalists is getting information from ministries and other state departments. During the summer months, when government employees work half days, that struggle becomes ten times worse. Half days, coupled with traditional Maltese bureaucracy and efficiency sometimes make this job almost impossible.

Several ministries are very difficult to get hold of. The communications officers do not actually work half days, and some of them try their damn hardest to get us the requested information, but the problem is that these officials still have to wait on other ministry officials who head home at 1230pm.

The government (of the day) is quick to send out press releases, publish sponsored content on the social media and approach newsrooms with ‘positive’ stories, but the same people hide under a rock when faced with tougher questions. Sometimes we have to resort to Freedom of Information requests – which are seen as somewhat of a last resort option.

The sad truth is that with many of the stories we work on, we need information from state

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departments, all of which fall under a ministry. The way things work is that we send questions to these departments and they would in turn need to get approval from the ministry, not just seek permission to reply but also on the actual content of the replies.

Then there are some authorities, like the PA and ERA, who do not fall under a ministry and can be contacted directly. But things here have been going slow as well and a number of questions sent weeks ago remain unanswered. As an example, three Sundays ago we published a feature on the decay and deterioration of Fort Ricasoli in Kalkara. We asked a number of NGOs for a comment and, with the limited resources they have, they replied within a few hours, providing detailed replies and proposals.

The Justice and Culture Ministry, on the other hand, despite telling us that it was working on the replies, never got back to us. The Planning Authority did not even acknowledge receipt of our questions.

Questions sent to the PA about a case where Transport Malta laid asphalt over an illegally built concrete dam – smack in the middle of a natural valley – also remain unanswered.

A similar case took place with the ERA, when we asked about a mysterious treecutting exercise that has taken place at Ghadira in the past weeks. The Local Council, which proved hard to get in touch with, told us it has no knowledge about the case. The ERA told us that it was investigating the case and would get back to us once the investigation was concluded. That was three weeks ago. Seriously, how long does it take to figure out which entity cut down the trees?

Another recent experience was with the Building Regulations Office, which we needed to contact after receiving an endless stream of reports about illegal construction works going on in prohibited areas. It is almost impossible to reach anyone after noon and the emergency after office hours number is also useless.

People in the media make mistakes. We are, after all, human. But people also ought to be aware of our frustrations, and the endless bureaucracy and stonewalling we face on a daily basis.