Author: Jacques René Zammit

Categories
Mediawatch

This wall is on fire

Kurt Sansone’s Sunday morning article introducing the Times’ (of Malta) new premium scheme kicks off with a tenuous comparison to the introduction of the Rediffusion a good 77 years ago. Biblical scholars tell us that the number 77 signified a very large number as in Jesus’ affirmation “I tell you, not just seven times, but seventy seven times!”. Aeons if you like. The introduction of the rediffusion is in fact not just the matter of another century but in technological terms it is comparable to prehistory. You can get radio anywhere now – especially via internet. I recently discovered the strange experience of driving through forests in Luxembourg while listening to eight-ninety-seven-bay… thanks to an internet connection hooked onto the car sound system.

What rediffusion did was bring wireless entertainment to many homes. I’m not sure whether Kurt opted for the aesthetic/nostalgic approach before dropping the bomb and announcing that “It is within this scenario that timesofmalta.com will from to­morrow offer its readers premium content against payment, a first for any Maltese news website.” That’s another record broken, or should I say broken record? Kurt moves on to examine the “ruffled feathers” and follows this up with the question: ” Should news content delivered by media organisations over the internet remain free?”

It turns out that breaking news will still be accessible (that’s the top part of the TOM page – the one most prone to errors caused by expediency) but the rest will be accessible only once you pay to get through the firewall*. So in actual fact what you would have to pay for is the analysis and blogs and maybe the odd bit of odd news – the rest you could read anyway. Which is just as well given how the Independent has upped its updating frequency and seems to be serving the purpose of immediate news provision just fine – which would make the Times charging for the very same news ridiculous (also considering the other news websites available for public consumption).

So what can we really make of this premium site move? To begin with you do get a feeling that the guys at the Times think a tad bit too much of themselves and their content. The suspicion that you get is that the Times had lured the multitude of commentators (that it insists on calling bloggers) into some form of addiction and is now hoping that they will be willing to pay to sustain their habit. In recent months it was also evident that the Times was delaying the uploading of most content that was not breaking news even more. Sunday articles would only be up on Monday – giving us online commentators a hard time to keep up with the “opinion” corners.

Did the Times gain anything economically from this move? I wouldn’t know. What I can say is that the move is a huge gamble – one that could deliver a sucker punch to the ego of the whole set up at Allied Newspapers. Unlike the printed paper that many faithful readers would buy out of habit on any given Sunday, the payment for online content seems to require a different level of commitment. When one considers the alternatives online and the actual quality of what is being offered by the Times itself it is hard to see how easily internet users would part with even a tiny sum to fall in line with the Times new premium policy.

The Times also forgets one major detail. The “breaking news” bit that is free is a common currency that can be found elsewhere. If anything the Times should have been using its additional “exclusive” content to lure more readers while boosting its advantage through the sale of advertising. The dastardly combination of addicted commentators and free riders should have meant that the Times was steadily building a huge audience – one that should be translated to advertising revenue. What the Times seems to be preferring to do is to slay the goose – sure you get rid of the “scum” (and avoid having to employ a comments censor) but you are risking to get rid of the whole base upon which your online business should have been built.

Much of what is happening can be attributed to a very Maltese way of thinking about knowledge and power when it comes to the media. The traditional media houses still think very much in term of controlling the way information comes out and is presented. From the Times to MaltaToday to the Malta Independent it is the same story that only varies very slightly. The Times has gone one step ahead – charging for what it deems to be premium news. The mentality is sadly very much in the style of Rediffusion  seventy-seven years back – the notion of one-way traffic of information controlled at source that is deemed by the provider to be the “best possible wireless entertainment”. We beg to differ.

Come to think of it there’s a lesson that Times readers could learn from a great wall builder. When the Chinese built their Great Wall most thought that it was meant to keep invaders out. In actual fact its main purpose was to keep the Chinese in.

* It has been pointed out to me by experts in the field that the term “firewall” is not an accurate description of the Times’ premium scheme. The actual name is a paywall. I wrote the article labouring under the illusion that a paywall is a type of firewall that requires payment to be overridden – much like the troll-ridden toll bridges of lore. In this case it turns out that payment for access to a troll-ridden site means that it is a paywall. Apologies for the confusion.

Categories
Values

Neighbours

You’ve probably by now seen the news clip featuring Charles Ramsey the saviour of the 10-year captives in Cleveland, Ohio. News crews have been roaming the neighbourhood trying to obtain different angles from neighbours in the area. How long had you lived nearby? Had you noticed anything strange? The usual really. We saw the same thing happen with the Chechen brothers guilty of the bomb plots at the Boston marathon. It’s become one of the main bylines whenever a tragedy happens. From Anders Breivik to Marc Dutroux it’s as though we cannot really accept that the person next door could be your next mass murderer or serial killer.

Then again it’s not like this kind of person go around with a warning label on their forehead. This pampered society of ours is very protected when it comes to labelling – to the point that we need to label the obvious: “Smoking may harm your health” or, as featured on a peanut confection, “May Contain Nuts”. Interaction with neighbours is important in a healthy society because with healthy interaction you get a solid community. One of the largest religions on the planet boasts of a great philosophical maxim that transcends the purely spiritual: “Love thy neighbour as thyself”. At one point in his interview Ramsey  says something that is very telling. I paraphrase here: “The point where a little white girl runs into the hands of a black man, that is the point where you can tell that something is wrong.”

Yes. It’s a very telling statement. Ramsey could afford to make that statement that clearly exposes the divided lines of his corner of the world because the focus was on the saving of the girls. The truth is that everyday life in that part of Cleveland Ohio is probably very much inclusive of little white girls who are brought up to distrust the black men – even if it’s their next door neighbour. Another lady interviewed by the BBC stated that her granddaughter had seen “a naked lady crawling in the backyard”. Her reaction? She told her grandchildren to keep away from that house.

But these things only happen to other people in big countries don’t they? Affarijiet tat-TV. Are we sure about that? The tasteless comments underneath a Times of Malta report regarding the search and rescue operation for the 5 missing French persons might give us a good idea about our good neighbourly policies. Commentators deemed it too expensive. If you allow me the crass comparison we were not even talking about the boatloads of anonymous travellers from the sub-saharan world but of five Europeans – a genre of sailor that is more palatable to the Maltese xenophobe on any other day.

We may profess to be a caring nation with our marathons and fund raisers. It’s hard to find real evidence of this though when you look at the thoughts that run through the minds of many people and that lay bare our scant regard for a more social way of thinking. Before you rush to tell me it’s a small minority who think that way just remember that an overwhelming majority just voted for a party/movement that is at best equivocal on immigration policy. That same movement cut deals with social pariahs such as hunters and constructors showing a penchant for macchiavellian short-cuts so long as power is obtained. Above all, the irony of ironies, remains the Taghna Lkoll slogan – a message that sends out an image of total inclusiveness but that has become a mantra wielded only to set neighbour apart from neighbour in the interest of the few.

To think that it all had begun with a message of love. Inħobbkom.

 

Categories
Politics

Prima Giulio, Dopo Giulio

Ai primi degl’anni novanta facevo le mie prime incursioni nel mondo della politica. Un attività decente nella gioventù del partito democristiano maltese (ufficialmente ed anacronisticamente Partito Nazionalista) andò a combinarsi con una fame di informazione nutrita da settimanali politici stampati e rubriche politiche in TV. La notte si passava con un misto di satira e i discorsi lunghi quando ancora Maurizio Costanzo si faceva intendere e rispettare dagli studi di Roma. Arrivavo alla vigilia di Mani Pulite e Tangentopoli con un regime stretto di Panorama, Smemoranda e una pazzesca dipendenza sulle vignette di Forattini. Fù la fine di un era con tanto di Craxi, di Spadolini, di De Mita e di Amato. La PSI, la PRI, la PLI e la PSDI e sopratutto e sopratutti la DC.

Io scoprivo i saggi di di Rafael Caldera e mi interrogavo su Don Sturzo, mentre d’avanti agl’occhi si scopriva un palcoscenico di un sistema politico corrotto, marcio e malsano. Era ancor’ prima che scendesse in campo quell’altro a cambiare ancora una volta il volto (ma non la pratica) della politica e dei politici. Cominciavano a piovere mandati e gli sforzi della vecchia politica di salvarsi dal dragone sputarabbia togato furono presso che inutili. Da li in poi arriverebbe la fine della Prima Repubblica con tanti saluti e tromboni festeggianti per il Cavaliere che avanza.

Il 1992, cinquecento anni dopo la scoperta dell’America, significa anche l’ultimo anno per Giulio Andreotti in un ruolo di governo. E lui il nano gigante che lascia cadere la sua ombra pesante sulla democrazia cristiana italiana. Nel bene o nel male è lui la storia lunga quanto quella di una repubblica fatta di mille governi, miliardi di misteri e tanti ma tanti inciuci. Una figura difficile da capire nei pezzi, odiata nell’intero. Sarà un caso del destino che Giulio sceglie di andare nell’altro mondo meno di un mese dopo che si è spenta la Donna di Ferro. Ho sentito degl’amici socialisti dire che adesso marciranno insieme all’inferno – dato sempre che il diavolo non riconosca un a posizione privilegiata ai suoi vecchi amici.

Andreotti non fù per me un esempio di politica democristiana. Non ho avuto il tempo di seguire i suoi passi o le sue battaglie. Dal sistema “Camillo e Peppone” nella quale si schierava con gl’Americani contro la minaccia comunista alle sue relazioni misteriose con mafia e chiesa Andreotti non desta molta simpatia. Il personaggio gobbo e sempre in riflessione diventa più grande (ma molto più) della persona – anche di quella politica. Alla fine dopo di lui crolla la DC – mai recuperata e molto frammentata dopo l’uragano Tangentopoli. Vent’anni dopo quest’ultima comparsa muore ma suscità ancora tanta rabbia, tanta amarezza.

Rimane una delle icone degl’anni ottanta. Quei politici distaccati che gestivano tutto negl’interessi del paese ma anche per altri interessi meno puliti. Sono poco le lezioni che ci può lasciare Giulio in questa fase di politica dell’antipolitica. Ci resta solo da vedere se i suoi eredi – quelli della Seconda Repubblica avevano cosi tanta ragione o se hanno solo confermato che siamo tutti umani di una pezza – avari per il potere, corruttibili e senza possibilità di salvezza.

 

 

Categories
Values

Parties crossing the threshold of faith

If René Descartes and Anselm of Canterbury met in a fictitious room in some other dimension we cannot be sure what the resulting conversation would be. Provided they overcome linguistic difficulties of sorts (but heck, if we create the fictitious room we can create a Douglas Adams Babel Fish – or they could just both revert to Latin, simples) there is a high probability that at some point they might bring up the two maxims with which they are closely associated. For every “Cogito, ergo sum” shot by René we would have a “credo ut intelligam” from Anselm. Then again they might end up talking about something else altogether – like for example whether the fact that they were together in a fictitious room was proof enough of the existence of a God.

Leaving René and Anselm to their conversation, we could take a quick look at the Maltese political scene from a philosophical and sociological point of view. This blog’s fate is irreversibly linked with the “PLPN paradigm and theory” that links the hegemonic performance and presence of the two monoliths of Maltese politics to a general degradation of quality and value in political thought. The latest step in the evolution of Maltese politics – the Taghna Lkoll/Joseph Muscat phenomenon – has opened a new chapter in this saga and I’d like to think that it is one that confirms the general trend of dilution in quality.

In a way we are witnessing a delayed confirmation of sorts of the Fukuyama “End of History” notion that however takes into account new circumstances such as the forced abdication of ideological trends in favour of populist scenarios. Not only was the political game rigged to confirm the careerist mechanisms of the few (witness the semi-failure of the M5S in Italy to usurp the throne from the old system) but it managed to adapt further by eliminating any qualms of rigorous policy and adopting il qualunquismo (populist ideas that please everyone and everything).

Revolutions whether Orange, Silk or Arab seem to have only served to change the actors but not the methodology. Potestas omnia corrumpit? Not only. Do not forget the concurrent revolution in systems of communication – the massive power of tweets, facebook and direct marketing. The irony is that the democratisation of the media has been accompanied by a post-9/11 adaptation of Orwellian Newspeak – witness the shift of the hegemony to the new methods of delivery – and the consequent blatant violation of data protection and rights in the local scenario.

The most shocking aspect of this all was not the adaptation of the hegemonic forces to the new ways of promotion, nor was their unabashed abandonment of principled policy in favour of pragmatic manoeuvring. What shocked was the unquestioning acceptance of their methods by the larger part of the population. “Jiena nemmen f’Joseph ghax iwettaq dak li jwieghed” (I believe in Joseph because he delivers what he promises”) went one of the pre-electoral ads. Even if we were to cast aside the blatant fallacy that was underlined by the fact that Joseph had hitherto never had any occasion to deliver anything we are still left with an important groundbreaking statement – one of belief. Faith.

“I believe in Joseph”. Sure the vocabulary was not new to the Maltese political scene that linguistically crosses the borders of emotions (pain, suffering, glory, guidance, shepherding) but this time there was an even deeper pronouncement of faith. The profession of faith was transformed into a mantra – the Taghna Lkoll – of words, words and more words. Meanwhile Joseph divested the party of its very essence – this was no longer a party, it was a movement. If you believed in Joseph then you were part of the movement and this would include apostates from the other big religion in the country.

The party had transformed itself into a sect of unquestioning believers attracted on the back of various emotional baits such as anger, promises of merit, undeliverable plans of solving the energy dilemma as well as individualised packages such as free for all for hunters or those crazy campaign moments when tablets were promised to all. If you needed proof of this you had to wait no longer than 50 days from the movement’s ascension to power. Gone was the meritocracy, the promises on energy were teetering and amended while the true cost of bandwagon promises began to be seen as in the case of the hunting farce (and Galdes’ infamous loophole jibe). Did the acolytes protest? Hell no. At least this government was not the previous one. It could commit the same indecencies, it could vote itself more expensive costs but so long as it was not the devil incarnate as announced by Joseph in his book then it was AOK.

It’s dangerous, this sect business is. It is far, far worse than a political party abusing of its relative majority to create a wider gap from the people. Meanwhile on the other side of the dichotomy there do not seem to be signs of an abating of the trend towards relative nullity. Sure, the pomp and circumstance of Nationalist camaraderie was respected through and through in the leadership election and the “look no backstabs” performance might have gone down well with the general public still finding it hard to digest the Franco Debono indigestion. Still though, was so much politeness and mutual deference really necessary? (L-aqwa li “well behaved”).

The eagerness of the nationalist milieu to anoint a leader with as little acrimony as possible does not bode well. “We are all behind Simon” is not necessarily a good thing given that in more ways than one Simon Busuttil remains a virgin to local politics barring his stuttering performances in the last general election. The early signs of a “solution” within the PN fold stinks very much of the sectarian option that Labour has so successfully adopted. Less critique and more monolothic acceptance seems to be the order of the day – allowing parties to spout nonsense wrapped and packaged in propagandistic bling.

If the PN really does go the PL way then we have the two parties finally crossing the threshold of faith. Less cogito and much more credo. The Maltese have a saying “iwiegħed l-ilma jiżfen“(literally “to promise dancing water” best translated as “to promise the moon”).

Our parties have long shifted to promises of moons and dancing waters. The danger is that instead of questioning them and their policies more and more of us are preferring to believe.

Amen.

 

Categories
Admin

The Knot

We have been away and will be for some time yet. It’s a special time in the J’accuse family. The younger J’accuse – who is as similar to J’accuse as night is to day – will be tying the knot this weekend. He may be Malta’s topmost podologist (just kidding, no ethical issues involved here – just a dig at other “indispensable” professionals) but he remains the younger brother. It’s been hectic, it’s still hectic as is wont to happen in the J’accuse household. It would have been better had the weather been more clement in the run up but hey… fingers crossed for Sunday.

Meanwhile bear with us for the absence for a while longer and allow me to use this, Malta’s longest running blog (with wedding hiatuses), to wish the bro and his lovely wife-to-be all the best.

Categories
Mediawatch

Guernica revisited

The other day I was browsing the news on my phone when I came across an item about a series of bombings around Irak and Afghanistan. I remember thinking how this kind of news has become so frequent as to become almost unnoticeable. My first idea of news is in the early eighties when the bulletins would be dotted with IRA bombings, kidnappings and hijacks. Post 9/11 terrorism had not come into being yet and you still had the tangible feeling of people losing their lives – of humans engaged in suffering and misery inflicted upon them by lesser beings – but by humans nonetheless. The Habibiya bombings were just a flicker on the news ticker. By the time the full information was gathered thirty-one people had lost their lives in a series of bombings in the Middle East and many more were injured.

Sports bulletins were not stopped, nation’s leaders were not rushing to express their condolences with the victims of these attacks or solidarity with a nation that was once again pregnant with mourning relatives. Most of all, the item barely made it to the top of news bulletins or front pages across the world.

Then came Boston.

Comparisons are odious and this is not intended to compare for there is no comparison that holds ground with the suffering and misery inflicted by loss of life or grievous injury. An injured human is an injured human – whether he is running a marathon, watching a marathon, on a boat in the middle of the Mediterranean or shopping in a market near Tikrit. A dead human is a dead human – whatever the cause of death may be and no matter if the death was caused in the name of some ‘greater cause’ or due to mere madness.

But the Boston marathon lies in the heart of a United States that still tries to be a melting pot of sorts. People from all over the world aggregated to the town of freedom and tea parties to celebrate life in a sporting fashion. Some twisted minds who deserve the worst of Dante’s circles in hell planned and plotted for bombs to explode at the moment when the largest number of runners are crossing the line. It’s ugly. It’s vile. And the world yelled “Enough” in angry indignation. Which is all good for the par. Every one of these dead runners or spectators (three at the moment of typing) and every one of the persons who had to have their limb amputated, must be mourned and showered with all the compassion and help they may need.

They must be helped because we are human and because we like to believe that our kind is capable of thinking as a society that cares. In equal measure must the perpetrators be found and eradicated. Yes. Eradicated.

But Boston also showed the two-faced approach to emotions. Almost daily the world observes tragedies such as what happened in that fair American city. Yet while Boston will enjoy more than its fair share of attention, events such as the bombings in Irak get relegated to second, third or even nth place. This is not a competition mind you, nobody would vie for top billing on the tragedy headlines. It does say much about our perception of the world. For much as I would like to give the news conglomerates and journalists (as well as their customers and clients – the reader, viewer and listener) the benefit of the doubt you do get a nagging feeling that some lives are more important than others.

If not more important, then more relevant to others. The onlooker at a marathon is not as distant as the “oriental” at a souk who gets blown to smithereens while buying her vegetables for the daily pot. The message that this sends out is that these people are “different”. That very message of difference that we had all nixed when Huntington came around with his clash of civilisations business. It could not happen we thought. We are all human and humans and their rights are universal.

The irony of the Boston attacks was that they occurred during a marathon. The concept of a marathon began after the battle of Marathon in 490 BC after the united city states on the peninsula beat the invading Persians at Marathon (with Pheidippides running the distance to Athens to announce victory). The battle itself would have been seen as a clash between two great civilisations – the lords of the earth versus an association of free states. The temptation to succumb to this kind of rhetoric might be great but in the end it is humankind that suffers – not democracies or authoritarian regimes – but the man in the street… jogging, shopping or simply minding his own business.

Every so often we get a new version of Guernica painted directly onto the canvas of our collective memories. We are reminded once again of the pain and suffering that a human can and will inflict on another human. We are reminded of the ugliness of our nature and of the fine line that divides this exalted race of ours from animal-like behaviour and of what a struggle it is to be and remain “civilised”.

May their souls rest in peace and may the victims of humankind everywhere be vindicated by what will hopefully be an increased awareness about ourselves and who we really are.