Saving our hard copy

It may just be naive sentimentality, but I do dread the day when there is no real, hard copy newspaper for sale in our shops. One would have thought it could not happen in my generation’s lifetime, but it looks so likely today that it prompts one into thi

Newspaper circulation figures everywhere in the world, even those of institutional news organisations, have been dwindling fast over the past 25 years. But it is no secret that this negative trend has reached dramatic levels in Malta where we have always had a healthy newspaper environment as regards choice, policy, style and target audience in what is and has always been a pathetically small market. Visitors are inevitably surprised we still actually produce four daily papers, six Sunday papers and a couple of weeklies plus numerous local publications and magazines for a reading public that is quickly shifting to on-line sources.

Those who persist in wanting their hard copies to leaf through at breakfast, especially on Sundays when they can also crunch away at their buttered toast while gloating over the accompanying glitzy magazines, are not necessarily news-media-shy. They just enjoy both ends of the world, i.e. being in touch with, and constantly kept informed by the ever-changing news scene on the net while still enjoying a good, traditional read of their choice. It is a personal arrangement that is bound to be lost soon unless a way is found to help salvage the very existence of a newspaper in hard copy, the same way many people will one day be fretting over the threatened existence of a proper, hard copy book in your hand.

We are of course more familiar with the British and Italian newspaper markets. It is known that while the UK newspapers have lost a lot of public ground, they still muster a good readership, the relics of which you can see left behind on trains, buses and station benches every day. In Italy, except for one or two exceptions – the Corriere della Sera and La Repubblica – circulation has never been high, and yet manifold newspapers and magazines continue to feature regularly in shops and popular television paper scans. Accessing the Italian “Data Media Hub” can offer much food for thought.

The Italians have made sure that public funds are used to preserve and ensure pluralism and innovation in the media. It is a complicated system, too complicated to even think of hurling such misery at my readers, whereby the State offers financial aid to publishing houses rather than the pa- pers, magazines, stations, websites and other electronic outlets. It is not fool proof, but it helps the thousands of low-paid journalists to keep their jobs and readers to enjoy their colazione with the fresh smell of newsprint.

Faced with the realistic threat of oblivion, can some or all of our newspapers, in both Maltese and English, be helped to survive by the adoption of a similar system of State and/or EU assistance? If we can find funds for old buildings that deserve preservation, causes that merit support, and small businesses that employ small numbers of employees, why not the newspapers that have embellished the news and information ambience for centuries as well as producing some of our best writers, journalists and editors?

For such an idea to instil even a mere glimmer of hope there first has to be an alignment of our publishing houses with the journalists’ own organisation to push it at both an economic and political level. That both sides have been unable to bring to fruition all the work done on the setting up of a national code of ethics does not augur too well, but the thought that there may be a possibility could provide the required fillip.

To elaborate somewhat on the Italian model, it should be borne in mind that becoming a journalist in Italy is not, as it has been thus far among us, just a question of preferring a glorified clerk’s job or obtaining a linguistics-deprived communications course. Italian journalists must have graduated in Journalism before becoming members of what is considered a closed shop, the Ordine dei Giornalisti, which is legally constituted and adheres to a very strict statute. It is why the provision of public funds is considered both vital and rewarding.

Long-delayed amendments to the existing law on media funding, hotly opposed by the Movimento 5 Stelle and Forza Italia, propose such mouth-watering figures as €120 million over three years for newspapers and magazines, €48.1 million for radio and community TV stations, and €100 million for the State Broadcaster RAI taken from the annual licence revenue. Add that to another €252 million intended for journals and newspapers belonging to political parties, movements..., and you have it. ***

For the record

I have often insisted that readers have every right to blog in retorts to whatever I and other columnists write, which makes for a healthy exchange of ideas and opinions. But there is always someone who needs to check his or her facts first. A case in point was the reaction of Mr Antoine Vella who merely sought to drown me in mud rather than commenting on my piece, in this very same space two weeks ago, about fake news and how the issue is overwhelming both the world of politics and the media.

Mr Vella, with whom I once had amiably sparred and joked during our one and only ever personal encounter many years ago when he was doing door-to-door canvassing for some party candidate, sadly chose to turn his guns on me by making time-honoured and erroneous accusations. So this time I have to make an exception and reply.

For the attention of Mr Vella: I was nowhere near Guardamangia as far as my employment was concerned when: 1. The Times fire incident took place, and 2. the ransacking of Dr Fenech Adami’s home after the MLP Birkirkara attack rumours. While I was working in another sector of Maltese journalism, there were other people running the PBS ( Xandir) newsroom at the time and it would be inappropriate on my part to mention names.

As for the reference to the later event of the unfortunate ban imposed on the Opposition leader’s name, that was exactly the reason why I had immediately asked for – and quickly got – a transfer to another department within the national broadcasting station.

I do not think it is asking too much for one to get his or her facts right before firing away at people who may have different views, past or present.