MaltaToday, 15 years later

Irreverent. Direct. Daring. Fresh. Liberal. Committed. Issue-oriented. Independent. Unforgiving. Agenda- setting. Investigative.

These adjectives I guess are what best describes MaltaToday, as we mark 15 years since the first edition of MaltaToday was published on 19 November, 1999.

In 1999 I was told far too often that this project would fail.

MaltaToday was born, as some people recall, out of a passion to provide real journalism and to provide an alternative form of reportage.

Most people my age grew up with three newspapers – The Times, which dedicated its front pages at the time to visiting warships and made it a point never to carry local news next to Her Majesty’s destroyers; and the l-Orizzont and In-Nazzjon Tagħna, two local versions of Pravda.

It was not the first time that I had kick started a newspaper. In 1986 I had created il-fehma for the Partit Demokratiku Malti;
in 1989, the newspaper alternattiva for Alternattiva Demokratika was conceived and remained in circulation until 1996. It was the most exciting project of my life, and one that proved to me that my vocation was not teaching biology but media.

In 1997 I was crucial in the start-ups of
the tabloid The People, which died a natural death three years later, and The Independent daily.

My work experience at The Independent, owned by big business, convinced me that I could do this myself.

As in all things, there are very few people who will encourage you to get on with your work.

In 1999, I left The Independent after being offered a joint editorship with Noel Grima.
I remember relaying the message to the directors that a ship has but one captain, not two.

A publisher decided to support the idea of a weekly newspaper. When he finally ran out of money, I started a new company and took over the title.

I do not recall anyone telling me I was doing the right thing.

The rest I believe is history.

Like all successful start ups, envy led many bystanders to suggest that I was backed by someone very big.

There is no denying we are motivated by our liberal streak, alone in backing the divorce campaign: but it does not stop here – racism, immigration, accountability, conflict of interest, gender inequality, corruption, networking are all topics that matter but hardly create stirs when it comes to numbers

In court in a libel suit, Dom Mintoff demanded of me to divulge who was behind me. The PL and the PN promoted the idea that the company was owned by John Dalli. Nothing would convince some people that the company was owned by two shareholders, and that that was that.

I can only remember the uphill struggle to convince advertising agencies to consider us for campaigns. Only this week, parliamentary questions proved the minuscule amount of advertising the former administration portioned out to MaltaToday.

That did not stop us from publishing.

I remember that for many years I would avoid reading other publications, so as not to get upset with the advertising budgets spent there.

And yet, 15 years down the line, we can boast of being more relevant than ever before.

Editorial competition has improved, our competitors have changed their ways and have emulated our journalism and investigative streak.

We are not alone anymore.

The only big difference is that we still can be the most impudent lot when it comes to reporting and there is hardly any peer to worry about. We still have pressure from politicians and commercial lobbies, but somehow we can still handle them.

On many issues in the local English media there is convergence, such as on spring hunting, but we can still boast of the best record for investigative journalism.

I remember that when we first came out with debarred tax lawyer Patrick Spiteri’s story in 2002, we were scorned by the other press. Until only recently we were accused of
a witchhunt for uncovering the association Spiteri had with some public people. Last week’s Sunday Times carried out a stupendous investigation and tracked down Spiteri, they would not have been done that 10 to 12 years ago.

Good for them.

The thing is that MaltaToday goes a step further and will go a step further. For example, in revealing the fraud that was with Spiteri
we pointed out that Spiteri was not only a fraudster but that he set up business with various well known personalities, including parliamentarians from both sides of the house, and a judge, and employed or used the services of some very well known people, including some of those who involve themselves in malicious blogging and are today’s politicians.

Journalism in Malta has changed, and though I am sure many will contest this, it is clear that MaltaToday has been the catalyst for journalists to take that extra step.

There is no denying that we are also motivated by our liberal streak, alone in backing the divorce campaign and the first to take an editorial stand on divorce.

But it does not stop here, racism, immigration, accountability, conflict of interest, gender inequality, corruption, networking, all the topics that matter but hardly create stirs when it comes to numbers, is editorial policy to us.

In 2003, MaltaToday took the unprecedented step of telling readers to support European Union accession and vote for the PN. Readers, as I always say, can hardly remember those days.

We also try to have X-ray vision when we talk of people. To me every person cannot be measured on what he says today, but also on what he stood for yesterday.

It is hard on politicians who always argue that they should be allowed to operate without being reminded of their faults or failures.

It has been one of the strongest elements in the MaltaToday armoury.

It finds its roots in the journalism of
1989 in alternattiva, where I spent a good seven years hitting out at a corrupt and unreformed Labour Party when the PN were in government. That day I was called a PN stooge… today of course others have decided to reverse the compliment.

Times change, and the last 10 years of the PN administration turned out to be plagued with mini scandals and conflicts of interest, culminating with the biggest story of the decade: the tentacled oil scandal.

The rest is history. Today, the present Labour administration hits back when probed, and does so by referring to the sins of its predecessor.  It is a ploy that was used before and it will only go away when new faces start appearing on the other side of the fence.

Beyond the editorial and commercial
 aspect of running a newspaper, there are the people, the journalists and the administration that work horrendous hours and treat the profession as a vocation. The dedication in the profession is unbelievable.

It is a thankless job, but it is challenging and ‘spiritually’ rewarding.

MaltaToday enters its 16th year with many new challenges ahead of it. The first is the digital onslaught, where MaltaToday has been taken up in creating its own newsroom and high quality digital edition, which is second only to the advertising-rich The Times.

The other challenge is the need to open up to a more discerning audience and readership and the third and final consideration is to remain issue-oriented and agenda setting and independent.

To me, he remains a great inspirational liberal and left-wing author and a politician who espoused incredible clarity when he spoke. The rest is really rather irrelevant now.

Lino Spiteri will of course be lauded and praised in most obituaries in the media today. I do not see why not. The time I recall ever sitting down and talking to him at length was in 2006 when we sat down to lunch and he was invited to be an opinion writer on Illum. He declined but wished us well.

He was then already rather mellow.

I had a bone to pick with him as well. I reminded him that in 1987 he had blocked me from buying a house because I was married to a foreigner.  A Mintoffian law was used irresponsibly at the time to block wealthy foreigners from purchasing property in Malta.  He said he could not remember but if it was the case he apologised. We both moved on.

Perhaps people also forget the contempt for him when he was part of the pre-1987 government. At PN mass meetings he was ridiculed by the crowds for his physical handicap. That did not thwart him from being the success he was.

He is also quoted as being ‘weary’ of the days in Mintoff’s cabinet. But I saw little evidence of it then.

His days with Sant were even less appreciated, and it could be that he was more of a leader than a follower.

His books were a great inspiration to many in my youth. Being naturally left-wing I took to his writings, only to be shocked by his apparent endorsement at the time of many
of Mintoff’s and Karmenu Mifsud Bonnici’s policies.

In 1992, the Nationalists prayed that he would not be elected Labour leader instead of Alfred Sant. They feared him for his charisma and his middle of the road politics. The PN prepared themselves for that eventuality by amassing an arsenal of ‘facts’ about his political past and spreading the usual rumours.

The Labour delegates at the time preferred Lino Spiteri to Sant but were apprehensive that he had too much political baggage and would be torn to shreds by the unforgiving PN machine.

Nonetheless his departure from party politics led him to new pastures and introduced him to regular opinion columns in The Times and Sunday Times, where he would part with occasional cryptic messages about the political situation. In the final months before 2013, he backed the Labour side, much to the chagrin of those who had rejoiced at his narrative of Sant’s years in opposition.

To me, he remains a great inspirational liberal and left-wing author and a politician who espoused incredible clarity when he spoke. The rest is really rather irrelevant now. He will be missed.