Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/791658
Opinion 25 maltatoday, SUNDAY, 26 FEBRUARY 2017 evidence to suggest that this affair was really happening. The simple fact that he heard someone say so – anyone, anywhere – was deemed sufficient. That, however, is where the similarity with Daphne's equally unsubstantiated story ends. Daphne at least stuck to her guns, and continues to insist that her version of events is correct. Thake? Not so much. "I only wanted a clarification," was his rather defensive reaction when both Fearne and Ciantar denied the claim (the latter threatening to sue). Which can be roughly translated as: "I didn't know if the gossip I heard was true or not; so I thought I'd just blurt it out as loudly as I could in public... this way, 90% of the people listening to the programme would simply accept it as fact (as they did with Cardona). After all, the purpose of 'news' is not to inform people about credible, relevant issues... it's only to damage our political adversaries as much as possible..." Honestly: how can you not love that kind of approach to journalism? It is guaranteed to spice up your news. And from the journalists' point of view... it also spells an instant end to the phenomenon previously known as 'a slow news day'. Not much happening that is worth reporting? Who cares? Just make some stuff up on the spot – or, if you lack the imagination, get some other people to make it up for you – and run with it on the pretext that you are 'seeking clarification'. Suddenly, there are no limits to what you can or cannot publish. And because so many people have come to regard 'the news' precisely as 'entertainment'... as long as your invented story tickles the smuttiest side to the public's fancy, it will be believed. So come on, folks: don't hold back. It isn't fair to let the Daphnes and the David Thakes have all this fun on their own. And besides: there's no actual skill involved in repeating the first rumour you hear at the local grocery, you know. This is arguably the best thing about 'fake news': it is much more democratic. Just about anyone can dream up literally any sort of shit about other people, and then repeat it in public. You don't need to be a 'journalist'... or indeed anything at all, other than a bigmouth. Which (let's face it) is what we all are anyway. Shooting our mouths off about bullshit is one of the few things we are collectively extremely gifted at as a nation. Why, just look at the impressive array of fake news we have managed to concoct and circulate recently. We've had around four dozen conspiracy theories since Christmas alone... and each one wackier and more laughable than the previous. Remember the Afriqiyah hijack last December, for instance? All those 'unanswered questions' that convinced so many people that the entire event must have been masterminded by Joseph Muscat – through John Dalli's Libya connections, of course (how else?) – for no other reason than to give his own government a timely little ego boost? No, wait... was it to smuggle Plutonium for the secret nuclear device with which the Axis of Evil would ransom the world for... ONE... MILLION... DOLLARS? Either way, it doesn't matter. No one is talking about it anymore, only eight weeks later. Could it be because all the supposedly 'unanswered questions' started being 'answered' the moment the court hearings got underway... and every last pillar supporting this absurd conspiracy was eroded to nothing before our very eyes? Or maybe it was because another conspiracy theory arose to take its place. The Great Power Cut Swindle. Never mind that 'random interruption of power supply' has been a constant, regular and depressing occurrence in this country for the past 40 years (which is literally as long as I can remember)... suddenly, the fact that we had two near country-wide power failures in quick succession – while no different from any number of similar outages in the past – was inexplicable enough to warrant an entire episode of the X-files. Once again, we were all encouraged to believe that both these incidents were concocted by the Labour government... this time, to be able to have something to bash the Nationalists with for a change. (It was the interconnector, you see? And whose idea was that? Sure wasn't Joseph's. Etc. Etc.) Of course, none of that answers why we were relying so heavily on the interconnector (which provided some 75% of Malta's energy at the time) in the first place. Could it be that the failure of the Labour government to build an operational new power station within two years – a self-imposed deadline, which was also a core electoral promise – led us to rely on the PN's strategy (which even Labour thought was a bad idea)? If so, that would only prove that this childish obsession with conspiracy theories is not the sole preserve of the Nationalist Party. Now, we even have Konrad Mizzi claiming that the trust fund he set up in Panama – you know, that small news item which caused shockwaves across the entire European continent, and resulted in the resignation of at least one prime minister – was ... 'fake news'. Like, um, it didn't really happen, or something... And Mizzi said this even as he himself presented an audit investigation that confirms that the news was all along very real: i.e., that the fund really existed, and that he really was registered as co-owner (which really did make him the only serving European Cabinet member to be directly implicated in the scandal), etc., etc. Which part of that was 'fake', exactly? Because it is not in the nature of 'fake' things to also be 'real', you know. Those two qualities – fake, real, real, fake, that sort of thing – cannot coexist within the same entity. Otherwise, you could conceivably come away with the idiotic impression that someone could be both a 'real' and 'fake' Energy Minister at the same time. See? It's not... even.... ... possible. Hmm. Oh, well. As I was saying, perhaps it's a good thing we live in a 'post-truth' world. The truth, after all, can be a little inconvenient at times. for her story of Minister Chris Cardona who, she claims, went to a German brothel and had a threesome with a prostitute and his aide. Caruana Galizia's brothel story pushes the boundaries of what can be considered as truthful by law. This is a conundrum for our debate with the government because the possibility of publishing untruthful stories makes a legitimate case to those who argue that civil libel laws are important to safeguard the reputation of individuals. As of now there is nothing substantiating Caruana Galizia's brothel story except for the word of Caruana Galizia herself who has the information from a punter she says she knows. Surely, the law cannot easily consider a statement as truthful based solely on the word of one person against the word of another, so ideally a story should be considered as legally truthful only if it is backed by solid and recorded evidence and/or a significant number of unrelated witnesses who clearly have no political agenda or financial interest in the matter. I won't apologise for working for a government which is weakening the legal framework of censorship, which had been left standing for all these years, and I will not be apologetic for being irreverent to the hypocritical and opportunistic dinosaurs twice my age who are using the debate of the press reforms for their own partisan fantasies. Mary Anne-Lauri, who went to protest with the Nationalist Party for freedom of speech, had been part of the University administration whose Rector wanted to see me in prison for publishing an obscene story in a punk-styled student paper. So is Gorg Mallia, head of the University of Malta's department of media many years too late with an infantile cartoon of a man hanging by the noose of the new media bill. One wonders what Mallia has been doing all these years: in his unique academic position and having been chairman of the National Book Council when the 'Li Tkisser Sewwi' obscenity case broke out: he refrained from discussing the case itself, let alone coming out in support of the author and publisher. It is clear for me that the likes of Lauri, Mallia and Caruana Galizia are not genuinely interested in reforming press laws and weakening libel laws. Instead, an ill thought-out proposal for online editorial registration has played into the hands of the Nationalist spin doctors, who misrepresent the law as one that serves to suppress dissent. For the first time in years, this government is actually engaged in an open debate with society to weaken libel laws and activists should keep up the pressure on the government, with scientific and academic arguments, to keep legislating in a progressive manner. We should be adamant when the government is mistaken and should not give ground. Personally, I will not be apologetic to the narcissist foot- soldiers who are spinning this debate into a narrative that suits only their partisan interests. Mark Camilleri is chairman of the National Book Council We even have Konrad Mizzi claiming the trust he set up in Panama was ... 'fake news'. Like, um, it didn't really happen, or something... It is clear for me that the likes of Lauri, Mallia and Caruana Galizia are not genuinely interested in reforming press laws and weakening libel laws