In this first of a series of posts, JOE BLOGGS (a pseudonym) takes a close, hard look at the evolution of government spin in the aftermath of the assassination of Daphne Caruana Galizia. This did not start on October 16th. Read on…
Speed is essential.
As we have heard many experts say, the first 24 hours after a crime are key to secure evidence at the crime scene and avoid contamination. Secure the area swiftly and efficiently, bring in forensics and interview eye-witnesses. The time taken to do that is inversely proportional to the likelihood of apprehending the offender.
Much like in the Egrant case just 5 months ago, we are well aware that this did not happen in the case of Daphne Caruana Galizia’s cold erasure by car bomb on Monday. It would be interesting to know how long it took the Malta Police to secure evidence in each of the prior 10 car bombs since this government took office in 2013, half of which happened under the present Police Commissioner’s 1 year watch alone. Whether this latest failure to act swiftly is down to sheer incompetence or worse, reluctance, will undoubtedly be the subject of continued debate. There will also be cries for responsibility to be borne and faith restored in the soon to be renamed ‘Malta Police Farce’.
However, this narrative is not about that.
This narrative is about the insensitivity of a Prime Minister and his government (and the Labour Party, like many things in Malta, the line got blurred) obsessed with PR, spin and its “greater plans”. So obsessed, in fact, that the public execution of a journalist, one of its most vociferous and effective critics, gets treated coldly. To them, this is a mere PR crisis and they are proceeding to manage that “crisis” with clinical precision and efficiency.
Much like the situation was “managed” when politicians in government were proverbially caught with their trousers down in the ICIJ’s Panama Papers (they are all still very much in office after what can at best be described as a brushing off) and myriad other scandals that, in any other reality, would have ended political careers. Not here.
Man is an apex predator, not because we are particularly big or have sharp teeth or claws but, besides our inventiveness, we are designed to run for far longer than quicker prey. We tire them out. Then, when exhausted and their stride slows, we can isolate them from the herd, encircle them and strike.
This game plan works outside the Savannah and can be applied to scandals, calls for resignation and critics too. You just need to take some measures, batten down the hatches and wait out the news cycle.
Manage the immediate aftermath swiftly, dilute the news, point fingers and attack the messenger if you must, spread seeds of doubt and up the freebies, divide and, if you can wait out the reaction, people will eventually tire and lose interest. People move on, they accept compromises, they forget. This is only set to get worse as younger generations with ever less will or patience to read replace those that do (votes for 16 year olds just speeds up the process). The cycles are getting shorter and, on longer term or macro issues, less intense.
This narrative focuses on the PR crisis management exercise and explains its elements. There is a lot of background and much darker sides to this story which must be told, which is why what started off as a post needed to be broken up and will likely have to become a serial. The trick is to know where to look. The government is PR savvy and has advisors (including Trump advisors and their tools of the trade) on tap, so even if the soulless felt no sadness, surely they will have been told that on a week of national mourning, flags should fly half mast. They did outside Malta including in Brussels but those on government buildings, including Parliament, did not budge an inch and in all likelihood they will not. If you have not realised or questioned, I invite you to ask yourself why this is. Similarly, during a silent protest by Maltese journalists in Valletta on Thursday, whilst journalists were placing placards about freedom of expression and laying flowers on her impromptu shrine, one person strategically and slyly tossed a copy of L-Orizzont on the far left and slipped away. Although the cover of that edition bore a headline claiming that Muscat would leave no stone unturned to find her killers, the knowledge that that same newspaper called for her cleansing just months earlier and the absolute detest that Daphne had for that propaganda outlet may have escaped many. This was the journalistic equivalent of taking a dump on her grave. The offensive rag thankfully disappeared by Friday evening.
Daphne Caruana Galizia’s death comes at a convenient time.
Like gazelles running for our lives on the scorched desert plains slowly drifting apart from what was left of our herd, we are exhausted and broken in. Resigned to our sad fate.
The 2017 snap election was designed to be a charge of the light brigade. The net result was effectively the smoking out any remaining dissenters (ponder here for a minute as to why a government that knows it still has a huge majority acted as though the opposition stood a chance) and “shock and awe” the others into the silence of acceptance and helplessness. Again, compromises. The snap election victory was followed by a farcical debate in the European Parliament on the state of the rule of law in Malta where the government quite happily paraded its LGBTI and civil right friendly laws to pinkwash its abysmal record in good governance and human rights. It also mentioned its much vaunted two gimmick laws, the removal of prescription on crimes of corruption for politicians (tiny tip, it does not apply to Chiefs of Staff and other cronies or to other crimes such as money laundering) and the so-called Protection of the Whistleblower Act (a law already pending in Parliament neutered through the inclusion and need for official recognition as a whistleblower by politicians and by ensuring that reporting lines for corruption by and large lead straight to politicians). The PANA committee was just ignored and its legitimacy questioned. Locally, the great “don’t attack Malta or dirty our name with foreigners since we need their business” line was peddled (think of the scope, timing and effects of MaltaFiles) and bought readily. Omertà by any other name.
The official line also peddled was that the Opposition’s and Civil Society activists’ criticism of corruption was “negative”, “had no proof” and full of “hate” whilst the government’s winning campaign was “positive” (we will talk about subliminal messages later as we stray into the fascinating realm of commercialised PSY-Ops). Awash with cash from multi-million deals shrouded in secrecy with the Azeri and Chinese governments as well as from closely guarded golden passport and VISA schemes, the government promised that the best times for this country are ahead of us, we just need to put up with a little scandal or hiccup here and there but do not criticise us because that is negative.
A couple of editorials in that Labour newspaper (L-Orizzont) called for the cleansing of negativity and the journalists that spread it including the late Daphne Caruana Galizia so that the government may continue with its grand plan. The official line in relation to those editorials was condemnation but yet mere weeks later that editor joined the hordes of Labour journalists and media relations people employed since 2013 with an unspecified job at the Office of the Prime Minister undoubtedly involved in propaganda, likely with the Department of (mis)Information.
A whistleblower who was never acknowledged as one and who was effectively ridiculed and branded as a liar, thief and Russian whore by the government machinery (a magistrate’s comments left much to be desired too), rightly fled. The guns turned on the Opposition leader, Simon Busuttil (negative) who was also subjected to ridicule in the press by government officials parading as opinion columns.
A new opposition leader, whom Daphne also criticised for his baggage (one cannot rally behind a leader to clean up this sorry state if his background and baggage does not inspire faith), stepped out of the side-lines and riding on a wave of “positivity” swept up the party vote. The reason for this victory and the resulting attacks on Daphne by those who just months earlier egged her on, was negativity and criticising corruption does not appeal to the majority so we must compromise. A new normal, just one or two notches lower.
Journalists were replaced or fell quiet and new opinion columns by officials within the Office of the Prime Minister popped up boasting about this country’s prosperity and deriding negativity. The eunuch press slipped back into its habit of cutting and pasting from government press statements, never questioning or digging.
Then the news disappeared. Under the threat of financial ruin and likely political pressure, articles screaming about money laundering, kickbacks and Azeris through the bank where the whistleblower worked (Pilatus Bank) disappeared or were amended without so much of a note. What would have caused uproar in a normal country, caused little more than a whimper. A blog post about Franco Debono’s polo shirt and the size of the logo got more of a reaction than one reminding people of the gravity of an Orwellian situation that permits the erasure of the historical record.
On 9 October, 2017, the government unveiled its budget for 2018 branded as the first ever budget without new taxes. A surplus budget. Malta is rolling in dosh from the sale of passports to Chinese, sheiks and Russians at Euro 1m a pop and the best days for our country are just around the corner. We will create a new authority entrusted with doing up all of Malta’s roads (funded by passports), explore a national blockchain strategy (CryptoRubble springs to mind), build like there’s no tomorrow and generally make hay.
Daphne’s last post, a silent scream about the dire situation where the Chief of Staff and head of anything strategically important, Keith Schembri, who rode out the many scandals including Panama Papers in which he was not only implicated but appears to have master-minded, is continuing with a defamation court case against the ex-opposition leader for daring to call him corrupt, defied her views on the news cycle. Isolated and frustrated she exclaimed about the dire situation. Were it not for the explosion that finally ended her Running Commentary just 30 minutes later, that post would have had at most double digit shares, a few daring comments by people under pseudonyms and some more praising her for giving the Opposition leader, Adrian Delia, a break. Then the 11th car bomb went off in a quiet country lane on a day when one of the subjects of Daphne’s most harsh criticism was on roster duty as inquiring magistrate, the fifth anniversary of the forced resignation of another who called her his nemesis and just 3 days away from the 38th anniversary of another Black Monday.
That is the backdrop. Make no mistake, the ship that is the national psyche has been listing for a while. We need to acknowledge that, though we recently refurbished it with ebony planks and sterling silver nails, the deck is almost vertical before we even attempt to right this ship. If you are reading this from Malta then you likely went to today’s demonstration, likely jeered and shouted for freedom of expression and the protection of journalists but just days before Monday 16 October, 2017 I bet that you were wondering whether it may be worth taking down an old facebook post or cover photo talking about corruption lest it damage chances of some crumbs or favour.
I should get back to the immediate reaction but will have to tackle that in the next part along with a wider look at how we got here. Until then maybe watch Black Mirror and wonder why, if this is not a political assassination, magistrate Consuelo Scerri Herrera’s first and only act before accepting to recuse herself from this investigation summoned what distinctly looks like a gang.
