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6 maltatoday | SUNDAY • 27 MARCH 2022 OPINION 2 maltatoday EXECUTIVE EDITOR Matthew Vella mvella@mediatoday.com.mt Letters to the Editor, MaltaToday, Vjal ir-Rihan, San Gwann SGN 9016 E-mail: dailynews@mediatoday.com.mt Letters must be concise, no pen names accepted, include full name and address maltatoday | SUNDAY • 12 MARCH 2023 Simply charmless: a valedictory Editorial OVER the last 20 years during which a fast-paced world of newspaper titles and magazines hungered for more readers, or slivers of advertising revenue, I always seemed to have been accorded some editorial responsibility... prematurely. First a lifestyle maga- zine, then –laughably – a business newspaper, then the Midweek iteration of MaltaToday, and finally the Sunday flagship. I was always stepping in to fill in the shoes of departed colleagues. Many of us are spares. My wish was that the burden of this yoke would be sweet and rewarding. I will say one thing: my faith in the masthead, its readers, and the people who served this title, remains unshakeable. In 2002, MaltaToday was the youngest of the leg- acy, print titles. The back-story was that stragglers from the Alternattiva years could pop in for a stab at journalism in Saviour Balzan's newsroom – a tasty bisque of green politics, radicalism, and Europeanist aspirations – and slot themselves into this tiny par- lour for reporters uncomfortable with establishmen- tarian narratives and partisanship. To me, an anthropology graduate with no pros- pect of employment, with solid foundations in Q Magazine, Select and Vox, it was all that mattered. Here was a newspaper that put its journalism at the service of readers, its vision firmly towards Europe- anist solidarity and unity, human rights, governance reform, civil liberties and equality. I was already a fan of MaltaToday and its bold, anti-establishment sans-serif headlines and subheads, printed on a Fri- day (huh?), a day associated with hedonist weekend planning; and insufferable liberals penning the col- umns (before the fear of mortality was visited upon them). From then on, MaltaToday was at the heart of the campaign to take Malta into the EU, to make envi- ronmental stewardship a matter of constant debate, to highlight the plight of rights-less migrants, ref- ugees and workers, to reveal corruption and mal- administration, and to constantly advance the civil liberties and equality agenda. And though I was let loose on the newspaper to corral as many journalists as I could into advancing this agenda, and allowed to mould the paper and its digital iteration to my vision, from day one of life in here, I felt MaltaToday should be bigger than any editor. So, as I tiptoe out of the editor's chair – and read- er, you are forgiven for asking yourself if you even know my name – I know that in the MaltaToday osmosis of journalism, it is the title that our readers know, not the personalities, and our desire to uproot old, nativist and even patriarchal hypocrisies. In my modest way, I eschewed personality politics and the most minor forms of socialising so that the newspa- per can be free to scrutinise those in power. Imper- fection there might be, but the thirst for better and more is what makes this a great newspaper title. • • • When I started out, my first foray into the raven- ous world of muck-raking was the story of a former Labour MP accused of sexual harassment – it was a hefty portion for a young reporter, but it whetted my appetite for more. Journalism is a trade that betrays dark secrets, levels out the playing fields, and should keep the mighty and privileged accountable (never punch down, always up). Migration in 2003 was a major issue for the Mal- tese. MaltaToday did its utmost to cut through the inflammatory rhetoric of the day, railing against the dreadful detention policies of the government. Many were the prejudices of the day that this newspaper instinctively opposed: the excruciatingly slow pace of change in gay rights or the dastardly attempt at entrenching the crime of abortion in the Constitu- tion. The air was heavy with inertia and suffocating with chauvinism. This patina of social conservatism was truly something MaltaToday could pick at, and even in 2003, a critical voice was a radical proposi- tion. The high-minded narratives this newspaper grap- pled with were many: reform of libel laws, end of censorship in the arts, greater transparency in public procurement, a Freedom of Information Act, a rad- ical rewrite of Malta's environment and planning laws, the human rights of migrants and asylum seek- ers, higher standards in ministers' and MPs' decla- ration of assets, political accountability, the support for divorce, gay marriage, and – at least, speaking in my temporal position as editor – sexual and repro- ductive rights for women… and then some successes of course: the Foundation for Tomorrow's Schools magisterial inquiry; the complaint to the EU Om- budsman and tussle with the European Parliament to publish MEPs' salaries and expenses; the Dalligate coverage and publication of the OLAF dossier; the Mater Dei Hospital direct orders; the Enemalta oil scandal; our sustained work in MaltaFiles and tax avoidance structures in Malta; our immersion into the world of crime and the Steward hospitals scandal 11 March 2013 Man behind Labour's electoral campaign is Prime Minister's new chief of staff PRIME Minister Joseph Muscat has kept his campaign manager Keith Schembri, and com- munications coordinator Kurt Farrugia, as his head of staff and spokesperson respectively in the first appointments to the OPM's secretariat. Mario Cutajar will also be the Cabinet's sec- retary and head of the civil service, replacing Godwin Grima as designate-head while Grima occupies the post of principal permanent secre- tary until the official handover to his successor Cutajar, a civil servant since 1976, was a for- mer trade-unionist. Keith Schembri, 37, an entrepreneur who heads the Kasco Group, will be chief of staff at Castille. In a statement, the OPM said Schembri's "business background, leadership style, and creativity would bring an understanding of what investors need to work with government, and to help create more jobs." Schembri will be relinquishing his directorial posts in the Kasco Group. Kurt Farrugia, 31, was a former Labour media employee who was appointed the PL's commu- nications coordinator in 2008. He will be the spokesperson for the OPM. The Nationalist Party has issued a statement announcing that it has presented a judicial pro- test before the Constitutional Court so that the votes for the Thirteenth District are recounted with urgency. The party said that in the Gozo district, 10 votes that should have gone to PN candidate Paul Buttigieg were instead lost, which led to the PN losing the district to Labour by nine votes. Because the mistake was committed when counts had already been closed, counting can only start once again by order of the Constitu- tional Court. The announcement comes in the wake of a historic win for Labour, as it managed to scoop up a Gozitan seat majority instead of the usual two it managed to secure in the traditionally blue locality. Contacted by MaltaToday for a reaction, party spokesperson Kurt Farrugia said "it was the PN's decision to resort to court action. We await the court's decision if their request if upheld." ... Quote of the Week "I cannot wish a happy women's day to the little girl whose last words were 'I'm thirsty,' nor to the woman who lost her child in the rubble. I cannot wish a happy women's day to Daphne Caruana Galizia, Pelin Kaya, or Bernice Cassar." Anti-Poverty Forum's Andre Bonello, addressing the Energising Women In Poverty event on International Women's Day MaltaToday 10 years ago After 10 years and a bit more as editor, Matthew Vella steps down and ref lects on two decades of serving MaltaToday