Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/646116
maltatoday, SUNDAY, 28 FEBRUARY 2016 24 Opinion Full Colour Version C: M: Y: K: 0 0 0 100 C: M: Y: K: 0 100 100 0 C: M: Y: K: 50 100 100 20 TUNA AQUAMED MFF Ltd. - Hangar, Triq it-Trunciera, Marsaxlokk MXK1522 T: 2247 5000 E: contact@ebcon.com.mt www.mff.com.mt Farmed in Maltese offshore waters and delivered to you with special attention to freshness and to the highest standards. LOOK FOR OUR QUALITY MARK IN YOUR SUPERMARKET, FISHMONGER OR RESTAURANT FOR A HEALTHY LIFESTYLE. EAT FRESH EAT HEALTHY ENJOY OUR SEA BREAM Someone left the tap dripping… W hen politicians talk about the 'trickle-down effect', it is normally an allusion to that (highly debatable) economic theory, which holds that the disproportionate wealth enjoyed by the celebrated "one per cent" will eventually – magically – leach its way downwards through cracks in the system… until an infinitesimal fraction of it might one day be enjoyed by the remaining 99. I won't go into the merits of this argument from a purely economic perspective. But I have noticed that the same theory has applications and implications that go well beyond the mere distribution of wealth. For instance: the same 'trickle-down effect' theory can be applied to the spread of information, too. As with wealth, information can broadly be described as a commodity controlled by a very, VERY small minority in any given country. I don't know if it mathematically works out at "one per cent"... but it's probably close. Governments, secret services and such like have access to all sorts of information the rest of us may never get to know about. I like to think of it as 'dark info' – along the lines of 'dark matter' in Physics… only the adjective is more appropriate in this context, because (as a result of failure to share this information), the "99%" is literally and deliberately kept in the 'dark'. Sometimes, bits and bobs of this 'dark info' may leach out through various cracks in the system. Investigative journalism accounts for many of those cracks in most countries, but there are other sources: whistleblowers, Wiki-leaks, articles of legislation such as the 'Freedom of Information Act'… sometimes just plain old accidents, like a minister letting something slip during a live interview. The bottom line, however, is that – as with the distribution of wealth – the system seems permanently Raphael Vassallo Facing the press: Konrad Mizzi • Photo by Ray Attard