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The Sacking of a Journalist

The fourth estate being what it is, the news of the sacking of a trainee journalist (he was on probation) in a particular set of circumstances warrants careful examination. J’accuse has a long history of criticising the workings of the mainstream press and is not about to hold back now. I am of course referring to the premature termination of Matt Bonanno’s contractual arrangement with the employers at the Times of Malta. Such termination did not require much of an explanation given that Bonanno was on probation i.e. the sacking required no explanation at all.

This does not mean however that we cannot look further into what happened and how it happened. Now that we have the news from the horse’s mouth (Matt Bonanno’s facebook note – reproduced with his permission further down) we can look at what could possibly have motivated the geniuses at the Times to nip this particular career in the bud. First a little set of clarifying facts:

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(1) Bonanno posted the information of the impending Ministerial visit to tal-Qroqq on a facebook wall that belonged to a friend of his: Ms Abela Garett.

(2) Bonanno did NOT pick up the invitation sent to him in reply by Ms Abela Garrett in which he was asked to “bring his notebook along” to tal-Qroqq the next day for the pre-meditated, non-spontaneous display of disaffection at the Minister’s dealings with public transport.

(3) Bonanno did not inform his editors of the possible protest action – and this is assuming he gave any importance to the wall reply by Abela Garett.

(4) The Times sent ANOTHER journalist to cover Austin Gatt’s university visit. The visit and ensuing ministerial heckling was reported on the Times as it was on all other papers.

(5) The PN sleuths trying to discredit the protesting by Abela Garett included in their list of grievances that (a) the protest was premeditated; (b) Bonanno’s message on facebook was part of the pre-meditation.

(6) While more of the “premeditated” “non-spontaneous” bull was being thrown in direction of the theatrical performance, the Times chose to sever ties with one link in the chain of “premeditation” and sacked Matt Bonanno without so much as a by your leave.[/box]

It stinks. It does. And I do not believe for one moment the whole “conspiracy theory” or the Times is a confederacy of nationalists business. What we have here is an organ that likes to kid itself of being impartial and super partes when it comes to reporting the news suddenly developing a panic attack that it might in some way be “implicated” in a supposed “frame up” of Minister Gatt.

J’accuse believes that the Times people gave absolutely no thought whatsoever to what they were doing before the knee jerk reaction of sacking Matt Bonanno. If the Times had not swallowed  so completely all the bull being shot into their direction by Messrs Bondi, Caruana Galizia and Co. about the evil nature of “non-spontaneous protest” they would have, possibly (and hopefully) noticed that Bonanno’s sole “sin” actually forms part of the repertoire of your average hack.

Yes. The Times sacked a journalist for behaving like one. Activists and ground level journalists constantly interact. Lord knows how many faxes about protests I sent in my time as an activist. If I wanted my organisation to be in the news I’d pretty damn well tell the journalist to “bring his notebook along” and pray to God that he follows suit.

Was Bonanno wrong to tell Abela Garett that Minister Gatt would be at Uni the next day? No. It’s public information after all. Nothing wrong in that.

Was Bonanno wrong not to inform his editors about possible protests occurring on the day? Again all evidence points to exculpating Bonanno. If anything, Bonanno would have abused of such information by “scooping” the issue and being on hand for the news item. Instead he probably did not even bother at all.

The uglier scenario is the alternative one. What if HE HAD told the Times editors that he suspected a possible protest against Austin Gatt on campus? What would they have done? Why are they so eager for the news? Their action (the sacking) might lead us to suspect that they would be more interested in forewarning the Minister than in actually reporting the event. After all they did get the report just the same but their reaction (the sacking) makes them seem rather angry about it all. The thing is… they lost control. They could not control the news. They had to follow and report.

Matt Bonanno’s inadvertent – and I insist unplanned – slipping of the bit of info to Abela Garrett led the Times to behave as a normal newspaper – one that reports the news as it unfolds before it without trying to tamper in any way. The moment though that the PN machine set the wheels in motion and started pointing fingers about absurd theories of “premeditation” and “nonspontaneity” the Times panicked.

And Matt was their perfect scapegoat.

 

Matt’s Note on Facebook (reproduced with his permission).

[box] I wasn’t going to write an explanation at first, but seeing as though gossip and rumours are being fired off from all sides, I thought it would be best to have my perspective wedged somewhere in between all the bullshit. Not that I ultimately give a damn what people think; times like these make it easier to realise who is not worth your time. Firstly, let me be the first to admit that what I did (and what I did exactly will be explained next) was spectacularly naive, and mildly unprofessional.

What I did was this: The day before the incident, I posted on Ms Abela Garrett’s wall, “Guess who’s going to be at University tomorrow.” I barely paid attention to her comment in which she told me she was going to give me a good story. So much so that I didn’t even tell my editors about it, and as a result did not attend the event, which by the way was public and not in the least bit top secret. Therefore, the whole thing was not orchestrated in any way. If I really, intentionally wanted to orchestrate something like that, I would have messaged her privately, not joked semi-publicly on her Facebook wall. In the words of John Cleese in a Monty Python sketch, I may be an idiot but I’m no fool.

A couple of other things which need to be cleared up are:

1) I did not write the article. I was busy following George Pullicino around a valley at the time and call him as my witness.

2) It was not me who decided to portray Ms. Abela Garrett as a heroine. I have no ill feeling towards The Times, especially my former colleagues in the newsroom.

Even though I feel my sacking was harsh, I was still on probation and they were well within their rights to give me the boot. The only thing I was disappointed about was not being given the chance to explain myself or apologise, in person. I was of course asked to explain myself via email on Thursday, since I was off that day, but I kept it brief and intended to explain myself fully, in front of the editors, the next day. On Friday, after being left in the newsroom for about 2 hours, I was called to HR and told my probation was terminated with immediate effect. To be honest I didn’t give my side of things, seeing as I wasn’t asked to. I don’t beg.

Neither am I going to be bearing a grudge against the bloggers who blew the incident out of proportion. They do what they do and I should have known better than to give them fuel to fire their own agendas.

And before they claim they don’t have an agenda, if Messrs. Bondi (sorry but I can’t be arsed putting the accent on the i) and Caruana Galizia were the journalists they claim to be, they would have phoned me to get my side of things before stampeding towards their own, warped conclusions. But that’s not how they work, obviously.

I will say one thing however. Caruana Galizia claims not to be on Facebook, but that makes her lifting photos, statuses etc. from the site and putting them on her blog even more morbid and stalker-like. Then again, she probably doesn’t search for them herself (if she does then she really does need to get a life) and has her minions do it for her. To these sad, miserable sycophants I say: do the rest of us a favour and stop robbing the planet of oxygen.

Actually now that I think of it I’d better remove the pictures of me French kissing a horse with a Labour flag draped over it while attending a pasta najt. (Kidding, Daffy) Finally, a big soppy thank you to my friends who have supported me over the past few days.

I’m touched, really. Anyway, I’ll be getting on with my life now.

Over and out. Matthew Bonanno.

Ps. I wish Maltatoday had chosen a better photo of me. [/box]

Think Different (1955-2011)

Is it hyperbolic of me to describe the death of Steve Jobs as something on the similar scale as living in the time of Galileo Galilei and being told of his death? Much will be written by many in acknowledgement of the greatness of this man and his impact on the globe. Us willing Apple Slaves feel like we have lost a part of us and still cannot get over the feeling that the world is not the same after Steve Jobs. But this is the man who told us : “Those people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world are those that actually do.”

I found this old-ish video of Jobs speaking about values and marketing. Here  is how he launches the campaign “Think Different” – a value that J’accuse espoused from the start as a blog and will keep upholding for as long as this blog lives.

Thank you Steve.

Here’s to the crazy ones. The misfits. The rebels. The troublemakers. The round pegs in the square holes. The ones who see things differently. They’re not fond of rules. And they have no respect for the status quo. You can quote them, disagree with them, glorify or vilify them. About the only thing you can’t do is ignore them. Because they change things. They push the human race forward. And while some may see them as the crazy ones, we see genius. Because the people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world, are the ones who do. – Apple Inc.

 

and the birth of Macintosh’s magic in 1984

 

We don’t need no education

It’s Student’s Day and the University of Malta is abuzz as it is wont to be on such an occasion. I haven’t seen anything online about the KSU or University commemorating this moment in history but that might be for fear of Deborah Schembri or Cyrus Engerer lashing back and reminding us that bringing up the past is for pussies. Or something like that.

Student’s Day. A protesting student did make the headlines by exposing Malta’s sleepy minister to a barrage of expletives. The reason? Numerus clausus? Censorship? No. Arriva. The bus commute from Naxxar to Valletta is too long so fuck you Austin. Unlike Michael Frendo back in ’77 (go ahead correct me) this particular student did not get a taste of the Lorry Sant or Wistin Abela thug fraternity. Don’t get me wrong I’m all for hurling expletives at Ministers if that is your particular cup of tea… I only wish we had a video of the event for posterity’s sake. Did she also reserve an insult or two for the vanishing act that is Manuel Delia? Attagirl.

 

Illustration #1: A student makes the headlines

And while we are on the subject of thugs. Here’s how the youth of today, the progressive youth, spend their time on Student’s Day. Here’s Alex Saliba celebrating god knows what anniversary from the death of that paladin of tertiary education and buildings for the people Lorry Sant. Thank (expletive removed) that I had LIKED a comment in reply to Alex’s blurb before it was picked up by the Runs otherwise lord knows what new fantasies and phantsies of plagiarism or idea-theft would have been found in that corner of the blogoverse.

Illustration #2: Lorry's Anniversary

And speaking of young progressives I cannot fail but mention Aaron Farrugia – the spokesperson of Fondazzjoni Ideat whose idea of a retort in an argument is accusing his interlocutor of being an armchair critic. Aaron picked on one of Dear Leader’s rumblings at Tal-Qroqq and decided it was quotable enough as marketing material – proof of Labour’s sound vision for the future. Apparently Joseph Muscat tells us that the UOM should be a centre for learning and creativity. A university for learning did you say? There we were thinking University was only for Realtà controversies, campus fests and rag days (do they still do that one?).

I gave Aaron a taste of his own medicine (oops… can I use that phrase or is it now copyright) and suggested more catchy phrases like: “Fishermen should catch and sell fresh fish. Grocers should sell vegetables. Farmers should reap what they sow.” How does the chairman of Labour’s think tank react to my obvious allegation that this is not a proposal but a useless populist tautology? Well after toying with the usual “armchair critic” piffle… he does what seems to be done best by most Maltese when challenged to discuss: he blocks me from his facebook account. Luckily I had picture evidence of the exchange:

Armchair Escapism

One last thing about university. The barrier is already quite low as it is. Labour’s new championing of students’ right to enter courses could of course be commendable. What is truly worrying is the trend that seems to be moving confusingly towards declaring “graduation” as a right. The right is to access education. There is absolutely no right to successfully read a course. If you are hopeless at a course, if you are unqualified to read a course, then the only place for you is in the failure cabinet. I get this feeling that very little failures are forthcoming at University – resits are just a reminder “to do better next time”. This is just as worrying as having a numerus clausus. Surely someone, somewhere should be pointing this out. Otherwise might as well hand out random diplomas in combination with birth certificates. Then everybody would be equal… we’d be a nation of graduates… and who will need education then?

Surely not Lorry Sant.

ASIDE:  Josanne Cassar has belatedly joined the blogging comunity by opening her own portal at www.josannecassar.com. It’s a bit more than a blog – more like  a collection of articles and interviews but we’d like to wish her all the luck with this venture of hers.

 

Dio é morto

Mi han detto
che questa mia generazione ormai non crede
in ciò che spesso han mascherato con la fede,
nei miti eterni della patria o dell’ eroe
perchè è venuto ormai il momento di negare
tutto ciò che è falsità, le fedi fatte di abitudine e paura,
una politica che è solo far carriera,
il perbenismo interessato, la dignità fatta di vuoto,
l’ ipocrisia di chi sta sempre con la ragione e mai col torto
e un dio che è morto,
nei campi di sterminio dio è morto,
coi miti della razza dio è morto
con gli odi di partito dio è morto…

f. guccini

 

The Libyan Patients

You take an unplanned break from blogging and when you come back you find out that nothing much has changed. Last time we were blogging regularly (seems like ages but it’s only a week ago) we commented on the farce that was the MUMN’s badly managed PR about the stress caused to the Maltese health system by 16 Libyan patients (one has since passed away).

In the interim, Dr Gozi has declared the ITU closed for business in a very pre-Arriva bus-driver style declaration of “Full Up”. The MUMN, eager to stay ahead in the national foot-in-mouth championships couldn’t resist another jibe at the country’s manager’s political priorities. Apparently crassly insinuating that Libyans should not be treated before every last Maltese national gets his taxes worth is not enough. MUMN ups the ante and engages in further stereotypification. And what better “class” of citizens to use than the “Gozitans”?

Apparently, as a badly drafted Times of Malta headline goes: “Gozitan patients lacking same political commitment given to Libyan patients“. Which either means that the patients from Gozo are not as sufficiently politically committed as the Libyan counterparts (Not dying for the patria are we?) or – as the “given” in the title seems to insinuate – there is not sufficient priority being given to the needs of Gozitan persons coming to Malta for treatment.

Forgetting this grammatical cul-de-sac for a minute, it is absolutely ridiculous of the MUMN to actually bring this particular card out of their twisted set of lobbying instruments. The “Gozitan” cause is usually useful to either politicians who want to specialise in a “minority” niche (if it’s not South then it’s Gozo or Sliema or Siggiewi) and turn it into something really really special. It is also useful to particular columnists who tend to thrive on a bit of Gozitan beating every now and then – spuriously linking localised examples of very Maltese ignorance to one particular geographic corner- as though what happens in Gozo never happened in Bisazza Street, Rabat or Cospicua.

I know. I’m biased. But what should that change? Are we stupid enough to erect barriers in the spittle of an isle that we call home? What next? Siggiewi patients deserve more attention in Maternity Ward? And where the fuck are the ethical principles that should be the foundation for a caring profession? For heaven’s sake – doctor, nurse, scrub, whatever – if you are in a caring profession then I’d expect you in the very least to be seeing each and every patient as just that: a patient. It’s not an ID Card that you have to cure, it’s a burn, a bullet wound or a severe case of toxoplasmosis.

Gozitans, Libyans, Siggiewi people, Xewkija people – that’s not the language for nurses or their representative association. It’s the dangerous language of politicians who are prepared to go down the route of “great minds” before them… a geezer named Adolf comes to mind.

Don’t worry though. They’ve found another dog close to death in a skip. All this fuss about dying Libyans and underprivileged Gozitans will soon be sidelined to favour the plight of Malta’s latest animal hero.

I wonder if the Centru San Frangisk has a policy about particular breeds. “What? A boxer? No siree…. we’re politically committed to Chihuahuas, Spaniels and Whippets…. “

Blast from the past

I’d like to apologise for the current dearth of blogging but in between a compressed workload, the run up to the day I tie the knot and works in progress chez J’accuse (plus a bachelors to recove from) we’ve found little time to write the many things that have passed through our mind. Meanwhile, to fill the gap… and as an example of our incredible consistency – here’s what we were writing on J’accuse 5 years ago.

“Tra questi documenti, quelli appunto contrassegnati “dai progressivi 112 al 119 con tutte le telefonate della Juventus di Luciano Moggi, la Gea ma anche del guardalinee Enrico Ceniccola, finito nell’inchiesta di Napoli per la partita Lecce-Juve 0-1. “Chiesi a Adamo – dice la donna – dove finivano quest’ultimi elaborati, ottenendo come risposta che di questo non dovevo preoccuparmi“.

Denigrators of the bianconeri have had a great time over the past summer. Reading the news items, following the cases and above all examining the punishments one would think that the only illegal operator in the realm of Italian football is Juve. The supposition was that everyone had been investigated and that the Juve officials were worse off at the end of it. Worse off – even though no proof was found of fixed matches or of actual influence on refereeing – they are playing a dignified season in Serie B and have turned over a new chapter.

The investigations into Telecom Italia’s illegal tapping are now shedding more light on the suspicious “selective victimisation” and it would seem that there is a methodology behind the fact that the only accusations forthcoming were against La Vecchia Signora. It also transpires that the cleanest team in football (false passports aside) are now under investigation for the much feared slealtà sportiva.Apparently Inter were also involved in some illegal spying activity that might have been intended to procure unfair sporting advantage.

As we had said earlier in the year on J’Accuse… there is much that is rotten in the Kingdom of Calcio. The petty measures that were taken until now stank more of jealousy and antipathy than real justice. The current campionato is a sham and the winners will have nothing to be proud of. Just as much as the scudetto sewn onto the Inter shirts this season is the biggest lie in the history of football.

Wait for more. There is no doubt that there will be more.