Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1272935
5 maltatoday | SUNDAY • 26 JULY 2020 OPINION Saviour Balzan @saviourbalzan THE lawyer Bernard Grech has expressed interest in standing for PN leader. I must say that I found Grech's reply to a question posed to him by Fr Joe Borg during a radio in- terview on the Catholic archdio- cese's station to be quite refresh- ing. For some reason, Borg opted to challenge Grech on the latter's insistence that MPs should be reflecting the wishes of the party grassroots. Specifically, Borg put the following question to Grech: "But if people tell you they 'want abortion' do you just go ahead with that?" One would have expected Grech to mirror every single politician on the island, and solemnly declare that abortion would be an absolute no-go. Therese Comodini Cachia ham- mered that nail in early, after the abortion bogeyman reared its head when she was nominated for Opposition leader. Instead Grech told the priest: "We're talking about principles, and abortion is one such prin- ciple that has to be discussed. If people say they 'want abortion', you are obliged to discuss it. You don't just decide, or let others decide for you; however, you are obliged to discuss it – and issue a position on what people think… Back in the day the Church felt it had the key to the truth. Out there, people think differently: we have to recognise that reali- ty." I have no doubt that Grech is certainly not pro-choice, but his reply scored a high magni- tude on the PN's Richter scale. For someone whose past an- ti-divorce role labelled him as a conservative, this finally felt like a long-overdue whiff of au- thenticity. Indeed, it was just the right approach in a political cli- mate where all the politicians are speaking the same language. So while the centrist Grech spoke on Church radio, Adri- an Delia appeared on Xejk TV, a channel serving as a platform for fringe politicians, religious extremists and wannabe jour- nalists. He was interviewed by the University of Malta academ- ic Simon Mercieca, a critic of so called 'Marxist culture', and the priest David Muscat, a friend of Nazi apologist Norman Lowell who subsumes his anti-immi- grant rants in long-winded reli- gious claptrap and flirts openly with Lowell's bosom-buddies. Honestly, it's a comedy duo match-up made in right-wing heaven. Still, for my sins I submitted myself to 90 minutes of Delia trying to portray himself as some cultural Catholic of sorts, with his shining moment coming with his take on immigration, the economy, the equality Bill, and even a historical analysis of his Catholic roots. Among the proffered gems one could find: "The government has invited foreigners through their agents India, Bangladesh and the Phil- ippines… to import them as pre- carious workers" – or this: "I feel God is with me. I wake up every day with so much energy. They tried to discourage me, but I make the sign of the cross before giving some speech, before any parliamentary group meeting…" – and his tribute to St Helen's proselytising power on pagans. The most pathetic arguments of the bunch, however, were his excuses for hanging on as leader. * * * Earlier this week, in a conver- sation with MaltaToday's ex- ecutive editor Matthew Vella, we were going over past stories and present information deal- ing with individuals whose links with criminality often demand a certain caution prior to publica- tion. It is no secret that what we have come to learn following the arrest of Yorgen Fenech has been chilling for certain media organisations, especially given the fear that elements inside the police force – some whom peo- ple felt were 'trusted' – may have been compromised, not just by criminals themselves, but also by an intrinsic environment of in- eptness, political tribalism, and even lack of ambition to deliver justice. The discussion we had fell on the need of putting in place ef- fective measures of protection when journalists face serious threats. MaltaToday is not immune to threats – very often it could be a barrage of angry words on the phone, but people with noth- ing to lose are wont to present themselves at the door, waiting for journalists to arrive, accost- ing them as they park their car… I can say that I have had count- less dealings with people of all sorts, and it takes quite a thick skin to weather these confron- tations. Not everyone in the press is, of course, made of the same stock. Without deterrence, the cul- ture of impunity is here to stay. And making things worse is si- lence. Few readers might know how many journalists feel un- supported when people make threats or demand to know why they are being written about (when they would clearly have been thrust onto the public sphere only due to some wrong- doing on their end) – some journalists do not even tell their relatives when they have to face down criminal types demanding 'face time'. Unlike MPs, we journalists are not protected in the discharge of our duties "while on the way to the House" – and clearly, it is time that the fourth estate enjoys a similar degree of protection. During elections, journalists are in the thick of it, and phys- ical attacks or interference with a journalist can be a likely event. Yet there is no crime in Malta related to attacks on journal- ists. One country, South Afri- ca, penalises offences against media workers with fines of up to R200,000 (€10,000) and im- prisonment, during elections. But the idea should be that the interference, physical or psycho- logical, in an act of journalism or broadcast that is tantamount to cause some form of harm or impediment in the discharge of a journalist's duties, should be penalised. It is not just that Maltese jour- nalists need to be protected against cyberharassment, espe- cially with Malta's failing mar- ketplace of ideas (we have seen it happen here with the publi- cation of ID card numbers on Facebook or the 'lynching' of one person by various people piling into them). In Malta, journalists have had to ignore the harassment – sometimes it comes from other journalists too, but of course, most of it comes from online trolls. More specifically, journalists need to be protected by a climate of deterrence that identifies ac- tions that menace or harass them as aggravated crimes, specifically addressing the threat of violence or threats that can be proven to reduce journalists' ability to do what the law permits them to do. Unfortunately we have little support from the political class. After Caruana Galizia's murder, no steps were taken to see to the protection of journalists. No one even cared to talk to the editors, to the publishers and owners af- ter 16 October, 2017. We already face an existential challenge be- cause of a drop in revenues; we cannot now be hindered by a cli- mate that makes our daily work a threatening experience. What will Bernard Grech bring to the table? Bernard Grech