Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1187474
I may not always see eye to eye with the Caruana Galizia family on all matters; but on one thing they certainly have a point. It should not be the Prime Minister briefing the press on the latest developments of an ongoing criminal investigation. To be honest, I am surprised this even needed to be pointed out. And there wasn't any need to elaborate, either. That the Caruana Galizia family also considers Joseph Muscat himself to be a prime suspect is… well, interesting, I suppose, from an international news angle; but not at all relevant to the argument at hand. Simply put, prime ministers should play no part in any criminal investigation, in any shape or form, ever: regardless whether they're implicated in the case or not. There are, naturally, mo- ments when prime ministers are fully justified in addressing the nation; but these do not ex- tend to what should really have been a police media briefing, of the kind that never happens here at all. So, by briefing the press himself instead, Joseph Muscat also arrogated unto himself the powers of a Police Com- missioner. Which is doubly unwise, because: a) that is pre- cisely what his detractors have been accusing him of doing all along, and; b) because it's just one of those things that should never be done, full-stop (yet has been consistently done in this country for as long as I can remember, and probably much, much longer than that.) OK, I'm about to list a couple of the better-known cases, just to pre-empt the usual 'why- don't-you-mention-this-that- or-the-other' feedback I usually get in the comments section below. Here goes. When the Chief Justice and an Appeals Court judge were arrested on bribery charges in 2002, it was "an ashen-faced Prime Minister Eddie Fenech Adami" (to quote Daphne Caruana Galizia) who announced the arrest to the nation in a live television broadcast. Just like Muscat today, Fenech Adami had no business to make that announcement … and the fact that he did so even led to an (unsuccessful) call for a mistrial by the accused. Likewise, the same prime minister had no business to get mixed up in the case of the attempted assassination of his own private secretary, Richard Cachia Caruana: to the extent of even conducting interroga- tions himself, and offering a Presidential pardon, covering numerous crimes, in return for evidence that didn't even stand up in court. And yes, I am aware that there is also an irony star- ing us all in the face here. For Daphne Caruana Galizia had defended Eddie Fenech Adami from criticism on both those occasions: but most especially in the Cachia Caruana trial, in which she also happened to be a witness herself. A lot more beside could be said about both cases: especial- ly in an age when everything that was considered perfectly normal until only yesterday, has suddenly become the stuff of instant outrage. But I won't bother, because… well, I happen to agree with that tired maxim that 'two wrongs don't make a right'. Who cares if Eddie Fenech Adami was equally wrong 20 years ago or more? The glar- ing elephant in the room is that it's still just as wrong all these years later… yet local journalists all still accept it as a perfectly ordinary state of affairs. (In fact, it fell to foreign journalists to point out the anomaly first.) Technically, however, it should be the Police Force itself to brief the press; and in a case of nationwide (and inter- national) concern, it should ideally be the Police Commis- sioner in person. But because old habits are so entrenched, there simply isn't any form of permanent structure in place to make that possible on a regular basis. (On a separate note, this ex- plains why the Police Commis- sioner looked like such a fish out of water on the one time he did address a press confer- ence, shortly after the murder. It's just not something Maltese Police Commissioners are used to doing. Joseph Muscat, on the other hand, can handle the media with ease. He's been do- ing it for over 20 years now, on both sides of the divide…) To be fair, the police do have an official communica- tions branch of sorts, called the CMRU: but from my own experience, it seems limited to only ever issuing press releas- es… and even then, only ever covering the scantiest of scant details about any given case (A typical example would be: 'A man died yesterday. Investiga- tions are under way. End.') The sort of press briefings that are now expected involve something much more… complex. It would require a dedicated press office, com- plete with staff and resources, designed for the purpose of keeping the media informed of details that (in the Police's view) are sufficiently important to be publicised, without in any way jeopardising the investiga- tion itself. This, in turn, necessitates having a team at hand to as- sess the media angle of any investigation: to be able to take on-the-spot decisions con- cerning the balance between the public's right to know, the suspect's right to privacy, the fear of alerting unidenti- fied suspects to details of the investigation… and a hundred and one other considerations: including 'do we even have to brief the media at all?' In the UK, this is something that forms part of any police- man's basic training. There is even a 'Media Relations' handbook given to every police officer: and just to give an idea of the complexity, this is from the 'Media briefings' section. "Officers and staff should li- aise with [the Corporate Com- munications Departments] about planning and arranging briefings. The rationale for the briefing must be recorded by either the CCD or [Senior Investigating Officer]. Con- sideration should be given as to whether or not an embargo agreement is required. If one is required, it should have signed agreement from the media and be retained for audit purpos- es…" In Malta, on the other hand, we have… nothing at all. It is, in fact, the absence of a compa- rable media relations unit that makes press briefings by the Prime Minister so customary to local journalists… and so ut- terly bizarre to foreign ones. In this particular case, however, there is an added complication. Stripped to its bare essentials, the an- nouncement Muscat made on Wednesday morning was that he had signed a letter authoris- ing a Presidential pardon to the 'middleman' involved in Daphne's murder. And despite the name, 'Presidential pardons' can only be issued on the recommenda- tion of the prime minister in person. This is another of those bizarre things we've all just ac- cepted over the years… in spite of all the occasions this mecha- nism has failed us in the past. In fact, Joseph Muscat spent around 90% of his press confer- ence last Wednesday talking about how much he disagrees with the Presidential pardons system, and all the occasions where it has proved counter- productive in the past. Such a shame he didn't find any time to reform this mechanism he disagrees with so much, in the almost seven years he's been prime minis- ter… But no matter. It is, by now, too late to fix this part of our broken system in time to have any bearing on the murder investigation itself. But it is probably too early to assess the full extent of the damage this lacuna is causing on an almost day-to-day basis. Already we have seen media outlets slipping up (I won't point fingers, as it's happening to everyone), and having to re- tract details of earlier reports. One newspaper prematurely reported Yorgen Fenech's release from custody on police bail, for instance. And by the time the error was rectified, the story had already assumed a life of its own on Facebook. From this perspective, it was not just the fact that Joseph Muscat briefed the media that was wrong; but also that he cautioned the media to be 'prudent' and 'mindful of its responsibilities' in the same press briefing. As a former journalist, the Prime Minister should know that we have to rely on official 24 OPINION maltatoday | SUNDAY • 24 NOVEMBER 2019 Raphael Vassallo Now more than ever, we need a police media briefing unit From this perspective, it was not just the fact that Joseph Muscat briefed the media that was wrong; but also that he cautioned the media to be 'prudent' and 'mindful of its responsibilities' in the same press briefing