Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/810144
3 maltatoday, WEDNESDAY, 12 APRIL 2017 News MaltaToday, Times, Independent in common platform on defamation THREE English-language news- papers, MaltaToday, The Times, and The Malta Independent, are presenting a common front on amendments to the proposed Media And Defamation Act, currently being debated in par- liament. MaltaToday executive edi- tor Matthew Vella said the Bill, which is expected to replace the Press Act, needed urgent fine- tuning and hoped the propos- als would be taken up by Justice Minister Owen Bonnici as well as the Opposition. "I can speak for one of the newspapers mostly affected by vexatious libels: while I wel- come the spirit of this law and the changes it aspires to bring about, the Maltese government has to understand that the Bill needs urgent fine-tuning or else risk over-burdening the current framework with unwanted regu- lation," Vella said. Vella said that editors of the three newspapers, which in the past have taken common stands on various issues, had agreed on presenting a common position on major parts of the Bill. "To summarise our stand, we firstly support the removal of criminal libel and the introduc- tion of a preliminary hearing for libel cases," Vella said, who de- scribed these two developments as long overdue advancements in defamation legislation. The newspaper editors are also agreed that defamation cases should remain the domain of the Court of Magistrates, with corresponding damages – that is, no increase in damages be- yond the maximum €15,000. "We understand that the expe- rience garnered by the sitting magistrate handling defamation cases should be retained, and that consistency achieved on decisions in defamation cases remain within the competence of these courts." The editors also agreed that registration with the Depart- ment of Information should be removed, or retained on a volun- tary basis. "We understand that a press council, composed of various stakeholders that would include the Institute of Maltese Jour- nalists, could be tasked to both maintain a voluntary register of accredited journalists and media workers, as well as is- sue press cards according to a tiered level of accreditation that would be based on employment contracts and other bona fide proof of journalistic endeavor. This could be the best way of regulating registration, against the issuance of press cards by the government department of information; press cards would retain their function of regu- lating official access for media workers." A fourth point of agreement is the principle of confidential- ity of sources, which the editors said should not just be a profes- sional privilege, since many acts of journalism can happen out- side of the trade itself, by regular citizens on various online and off line fora. Finally, the editors also said that digital issues should be dealt with other legal tools, among them the digital rights bill and the Electronic Commerce Act. "Judicial oversight must be the norm in any aspect that would require an enforced take-down of defamatory material, not the instruction of a politician." Matthew Vella said he hoped presenting these points to MPs will further enlighten perspec- tives on the media bill. "We don't want a media law that serves those who find litiga- tion as an avenue to quash jour- nalism or freedom of expression, and we want a law that ensures the fastest and cheapest possi- ble way for both journalists and possibly injured parties to find a resolution on defamatory state- ments." Exasperated nurses launch ultimatum over understaffed wards MIRIAM DALLI EXASPERATED and under- staffed, nurses at the state elderly residence in Marsa have launched an ultimatum in a bid to attract the government's attention amid accusations that the management at Saint Vincent de Paul Residence (SVPR) had implemented cost- cutting measures at the expense of residents and workers. Flanked by numerous workers who took an hour out of their break to make their appeal, MUMN sec- retary general Colin Galea said that the management had resorted to cutting nurses' vacation leave and study leave instead of finding solutions to a prevailing problem. A study commissioned jointly by the MUMN and the manage- ment of SVPR has found that the number of nurses had to double, increasing to four nurses per 40 residents during the day and two nurses per 40 residents during the night. "Instead of acting on it and gradually increase the number of nurses in the numerous wards, the management simply shelved the report," Galea told reporters out- side SVPR. SVPR hosts some 1,000 residents and employs close to 300 nurses, 80% of which are on a full-time basis. Galea recounted how the gov- ernment last year moved to em- ploy more carers – through private contractor Healthmark, a subsidi- ary of the DB Group – leading to complaints by residents and their relatives. "The carers supplied by the pri- vate contractor are foreigners and there are language and cultural barriers," Galea said, adding that some of them were also illiterate. The majority of the carers, the MUMN said, were from Pakistan or India. He said that, along with their inability to communicate properly with the residents, the biggest problem was that the car- ers were only working two hours a night: between 7.30pm and 8.30pm and between 4.30am and 5.30am. According to Galea, the manage- ment had also provided the carers with an area where they can sleep. Nurses reported that the carers spend the majority of their shift in these rooms and limiting their job to changing diapers. "They do not realise when a resi- dent is going to develop bedsores and the MUMN cannot under- stand how the management can choose carers over nurses to carry out this job," he said. Galea accused the management of cost-cutting measures at the expense of nurses, whose applica- tions for vacation leave and study leave were being rejected or with- drawn. Galea warned of the negative physical and psychological marks the situation was leaving on nurs- es, with the situation becoming as "ridiculous" as denying vacation leave on Sunday. "We are requesting a meeting with parliamentary secretary Justyne Caruana to avoid launch- ing an industrial action," Galea said. Asked how the situation could be improved if there are no avail- able nurses to increase the staff complement, Galea said that he was confident a solution could be found including through the use of overtime. In a reaction, the parliamentary secretary for the elderly said that 119 nurses were employed over the past three years and that there were continuous efforts to in- crease the number of workers. The parliamentary secretariat said that care assistants increased, to the point that their daily con- tribution amounts to 650 hours, allowing nurses to focus on their professional role. The parliamentary secretariat said that all carers working at SVPR are qualified and under- went scrutiny by the nurses' sec- tion itself. Less than 25% of the 500 carers are foreigners. The SVPR administration cat- egorically denied allegations that the workers' vacation leave and study leave was being rejected, adding that 98% of the requested vacation leave is being honoured. The approval rate of study leave was at 100%, it added. The secretariat added that Justyne Caruana was and re- mains open to any meetings with MUMN. The nurses took an hour out of their break to voice their concerns PHOTOGRAPHY BY: JAMES BIANCHI