History repeats itself as media orcs take over politics

For all the talk of a Christmas truce, Labour's stunt to pull out Anglu Farrugia from a TV debate and instead propose that his time is taken up by Nationalist MP Franco Debono will be marked as the unofficial opener of the typically bitter Maltese general election.

A cursory glance at reactions MaltaToday solicited on its Facebook page showcased a typical division amongst those who prefer the Labour line (that Simon Busuttil does not want to face Franco Debono); or those who saw the Labour stunt as a cheap tactic so as not to pit the potentially inept Farrugia with the charismatic Busuttil.

The facts building up to Friday evening's historical cancellation of Malta's most watched talk show were that Labour - after agreeing to have Farrugia in a debate with Busuttil on Xarabank - pulled out the deputy leader a few minutes before, to have Debono air his gripes to Busuttil.

Labour's communications coordinator Kurt Farrugia tried his hardest on party station One TV to spin the stunt as an act of democratic charity to the disenfranchised MP, but it was clear that Labour have no faith in Xarabank presenter Peppi Azzopardi because of his chumminess with the Nationalist administration.

Not only was Azzopardi the "coach" for Jeffrey Pullicino Orlando's metamorphosis into party journalist at the BA debate of the 2008 elections that may have felled Alfred Sant; Debono on Friday revealed Azzopardi was some sort of mediator for him and the Prime Minister. How intimate is Azzopardi with this government to gladly offer his media services to his political masters?

The first thoughts from bloggers who watched the drama unfold on the TV screens gives some insight into what is at stake.

"You have to look at the Nationalists tonight through Franco's eyes. It is inevitable. All through the antics of the rebel MP before the paparazzi there were two words ringing in every viewer's mind: History & Irrelevant," Jacques Rene Zammit said, correctly clocking the way Franco Debono's psyche works - there was no way the MP would stay silent after the Prime Minister dismissed the man who brought down his government (full term or not) as 'irrelevant'.

"Oh the irony. Bullying reporters? Gimmicks and dishonesty? Here's the history lesson then. Back in 2008 a JPO coached by Peppi Azzopardi was given a journalist's card in an attempt to constantly harass Alfred Sant. Back in 2008 all was fair in love and war and no mention was made of bullying tactics... a case of double standards, no doubt about that and it is useless pleading that this is not a case of comparing like with like. Both Franco and JPO were tools used by the two parties to get what they wanted."

And the effect among voters? Zammit says PN voters will still see Debono, and Farrguia, in a bad light. And yet, "the PN too is left smarting with wounds and a clear warning that it will not be so smooth - even on home ground like PBS."

It is perhaps even more telling that a presenter like Azzopardi did not seek to have his TV ratings boosted gigantically by having Debono live on Xarabank. Instead, someone - at PBS, at the PN, or even at the OPM, who knows? - decided that Debono will not be given airtime on the national broadcaster.

"Watching Peppi as he poured his heart out to Ruth Amaira last night, going on (and on and on) about what happened, I got the niggling feeling that he would have relished a Franco/Simon showdown purely for the ratings. In fact, he actually said he would have not had a problem with both Anglu and Franco turning up - but PBS pulled the plug," Josanne Cassar wrote in her blog.

Cassar also picks at Labour's dishonesty at not making its point clearer about their lack of trust in Azzopardi.

"The Labour Party then challenged PBS to hold the debate anyway, providing that Peppi is not the presenter, but this was turned down. Now, it seems the programme is going ahead this evening with Peppi after all. The point is, if they have such a problem with Peppi because they feel he is incapable of being impartial, why didn't they just say so?"

And of course, there is the JPO-style ambush that Cassar rekindles as yet another act of history repeating itself. "Karma? Divine justice? Or an attempt at beating the PN at its own game? As I said, I have my doubts as to what the Labour Party has actually achieved by doing this. The only thing I can think of is that they succeeded in pulling a fast one on Where's Everybody, as a kind of payback.

"After all, what happened last night has to be considered within the context of Peppi Azzopardi coaching JPO on how to confront Alfred Sant in 2008."

So the real battle? Right inside the public broadcaster, where Where's Everybody presenters, TVM's Head of News Natalino Fenech, and PBS chief executive Anton Attard are publicly perceived to be too close to the government to run a station that respects the nation's democratic expectations.