Double-standards galore
I often find myself wondering when the Nationalist Party will stop trying to demolish the reputation of this country and start carrying out its duties in the interest of our people.
Every time the Nationalist Party ends up in the opposition benches, it has always followed the same playbook, and every time it does so we are presented with the same old arguments about how the Government is working to reduce freedom of expression, control the media, attack democracy and restrict the fundamental human rights of the Maltese people.
A few weeks ago, Dr. Comodini Cachia penned an article in the Times of Malta accusing the Prime Minister and members of the Cabinet that the Government had manipulated the instructions issued by the Broadcasting Authority when it came to the transmission of news conferences related to the COVID-19 pandemic. A public health concern which has challenged and continues to challenge not just this country, but every single other country in the world.
The author argued that the Broadcasting Authority is a tool in the hands of Government and that it is curtailing our right to freedom of information.
I, for one, cannot speak on behalf of the Broadcasting Authority. This is a constitutional body independent from the government of the day. Having said that, the claims made by Dr. Comodini Cachia are nothing but the continuation of the line taken by the PN, that continues to follow the playbook and narrative it created around 40 years ago.
To claim that this Government is trying to curtail the public’s right to be informed is quite simply a conscious distortion of the truth aimed at instilling suspicion and fear.
Isn’t it ironic that Dr. Comodini Cachia makes this claim when just a few paragraphs before she was criticising the PM and his Government, saying that they were calling too many press conferences and were using these press events to provide information to the public which we, according to her, should not be providing?
Let me restate what I have already said about the matter of journalist’s questions to politicians. Any journalist should be free to ask politicians whatever he or she wants and to challenge us whenever we do not give satisfactory answers. Equally, the public should have complete access to these questions and the answers which are given.
Having said that, one should not be so naïve to think that every question posed by any journalist should be taken at face value. Journalists have every right to ask politically loaded questions but likewise, whoever is answering those questions should not be chastised for giving an answer which is also political. It is our duty as politicians to explain to the public what we are doing, how we are working and how the big picture applies to the individual person in the street. This will undoubtedly cross into government policy and government initiatives which may, by the politically blinded observer, be interpreted as political propaganda.
On the other hand, if we did not explain, we will be criticised for not providing information and told that we are keeping everyone in the dark.
In her piece, Dr. Comodini Cachia states that the Government decided to manipulate the circular published by the Broadcasting Authority and to capitalise and use these press conferences to score political points. I will not go into the number of political points which the PN tried and continues to try and score using COVID-19.
Accusing the Government of manipulating the media is a rich comment coming from a PN MP. Is it possible that memories are so short? What about the continuous manipulation, at times aided by the media itself, of the PN when they were in power? And not only. What about the one sided and often lack of reporting from the media when exponents of the PN are involved in matters which shed a bad light on them?
The issue here is not about press conferences. The issue here is about how the PN tries to project on to the PL and the Government the fundamental problems which they themselves have, both within the party as well as with the electorate. It is about the hypocrisy of a political party that has failed to realise that its way of doing politics is no longer wanted by the Maltese people.
If we want to talk about censorship, we can start by discussing how the Nationalist party prohibited debates in its leadership race. And if we want to talk about democracy, we should discuss how the Simon Busuttil – Jason Azzopardi – Bernard Grech faction has done its utmost to stop anyone else from contesting the leadership race to restrict the choice which the members will have when casting their ballot. Hon. Comodini Cachia herself was at the receiving end of such behind-the-scene manoeuvres.
Stratagems which are the trademark of despotic regimes and rigged elections.