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MT 8 July 2018

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25 maltatoday | SUNDAY • 8 JULY 2018 OPINION particular observation... then we simply don't use that argu- ment, and we don't make that observation. End of story. After all, what's more important here? That we get specific answers to specific questions? Or that we instantly exploit any circum- stance that may arise, in order to maximise one political party's advantage over the other? Truth be told, we didn't even need Paloma Faith to spell it out for us. Just a cursory glance at the week's headlines will reveal the same pattern replicating itself endlessly, in all directions, like an immortal strand of DNA. For instance, it was reported that former PN MP Tony Bezzina lost a libel case against Prime Minister Joseph Muscat... in a ruling that confirmed how Bezzina had "coerced employees of the Public Works department into signing a declaration stating that they had not been used to carry out works inside the Zur- rieq PN club during their work hours, in 2012." The Labour Party (and its media, and its dutiful sup- porters, and all their dogs, etc) responded by challenging the PN to take disciplinary ac- tion against Bezzina. The PN retorted that Labour had yet to take disciplinary action against Interior Minister Carmelo Ab- ela, who likewise stands accused of having engaged government employees to carry out private works during their regular work hours. Even the question of whether these two incidents are analo- gous has divided public opinion along the same, woefully pre- dictable lines. If you're Nation- alist, you will see the connection instantly. If you're Labour, you will never see it in a million years. It's that bloody simple... and that bloody irrational, too. From this perspective.... well, yes, maybe we did need Paloma Faith to spell it out for us in the end. Even if almost certainly incorrect, the (c) scenario, out- lined above, briefly cast a spot- light on the very nexus of the problem. The very fact that po- litical parties are allowed to own media corporations – against all known good European practice, and militating directly against every known journalistic prin- ciple and convention – attests to how deeply we have all been affected by this ugly disease. One and Net TV have been around for the better part of a quarter of a century now. What has their contribution been, exactly? As far as I can see, they have only succeeded in nor- malising this utterly absurd and politically indefensible situation beyond the point of no return... until the same pattern is now infused with our very way of thinking. We no longer even expect serious journalistic work from either of those media houses: it is taken as a given that they will both actively dis- tort any given news item, and milk it for whatever political advantage it might yield. And we all just accept that perversion of journalism, for reasons that the Paloma Faith episode also framed for us into a workable context: because (let's face it) that's how every- one responds to 'the news' in this country – with an instant, knee-jerk impulse to reduce it to a reflection of their own, petty little political obsessions... and to hell with what really happened. OK, rant over: now I'm off to support a football team to which I have no official connec- tion whatsoever, in the hope that it will win the World Cup by any means necessary (fair or foul); and above all, to hotly criticise and/or defend any ref- eree decision, solely on the basis of whether it will translate into an advantage or disadvantage for 'my' team... and to hell with whether it really was a penalty or not. After all, if everyone else is content to behave like an irra- tional, fanatical hooligan... why the hell shouldn't I? Maybe we did need Paloma Faith to spell it out for us in the end… the very fact that political parties are allowed to own media corporations attests to how deeply we have all been affected by this ugly disease

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