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Media Landscape - Malta

INTRODUCTION

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The Mediterranean Islands of Malta with a surface area of 316 km. sq. and a population of just over 400,000 are one of the smallest but most densely populated countries. The country is made of the main island, Malta and a secondary island, Gozo. It became a member of the European Union on May 1, 2004 and adopted the Euro as official currency with January first 2008. The two political parties represented in Parliament are the Nationalist Party (currently in Government) and the Malta Labour Party. A third very small party is the Green Party. Another party, the Azzjoni Nazzjonali (literally translated: National Action) also appears on the political realm in Malta. Its chairman is Dr (medicine) Josie Mucast, a former Nationalist Party member. The Vice Chairman of the Party is Anglu Xuereb, an entrepreneur who has substantial investment in construction and in tourism, including hotels.***

The main religion of Malta is Catholicism almost all the Maltese are baptized in that religion. Malta’s economy is dependent on foreign trade, tourism and the IT industries with the financial services sector increasing in its importance. The country ranks as the 32nd country in the Human Development Index of the United Nations as it has a very advanced system of education and health, among others. The currency is the Maltese lira which is equivalent to 0.43 Euros. Malta was a British colony for over 160 years until it achieved independence in 1964. An important remnants of this colonial period is bilingualism. While the national language is Maltese the official languages are English and Maltese. The national language is a synthesis of the Semitic and romance families of languages.


1. WRITTEN PRESS

The presence of the institutions – church, political parties, unions - in the print media is not as large as their presence in the broadcasting media; moreover they are absent from the ownership of the newspapers published in English. Unions are not represented in the broadcasting media, but in the print media; and only the General Workers Union owns a newspaper, the UHM, the second biggest Union, has no newspaper, tv or radio stations.

The most widely read and financially the strongest newspapers are published by Allied Newspapers Ltd., mainly the The Times (27%) and The Sunday Times (51.6%). Due to bilingualism half of the newspapers are published in English and the other half in Maltese. The Sunday newspaper It-Torca (The Torch) published by the Union Press, a subsidiary of the GWU, is the paper with the biggest circulation in the Maltese language. Its sister paper, l-orizzont, is the Maltese daily with biggest circulation. Newspapers are definitively losing out to radio and television (and radio is losing to television) as preferred source of news. There is a high number of daily or weekly newspapers, there is one paper for every 28,000 people. Advertising, sales and subsidies are the three main methods of financing newspapers and magazines. However, most of the papers and magazines tied to institutions are subsidised by the same institutions, they depend on advertising or subsidies from their owners.


2. AUDIOVISUAL MEDIA

Malta has a dual system of public and commercial media. The presence of radio stations is very high. There are twelve national radio stations, 26 community radio stations broadcasting with a permanent, and another 26 community stations broadcasting with a temporary licence and five TV stations. In all there are 69 stations, meaning one station for every 5,800 persons. Ninety nine percent of houses have at least one TV set. The state, the political parties, the Church and the University own radio and/or television stations. Eight out of the twelve national radio stations and four out of five TV stations are run by these institutions. The only commercial TV station attracts an audience of 2%. Cable, terrestrial and satellite reception are all available, though the cable service is the most diffused. Cable subscriptions reached almost 124,000 in February 2006 reaching about 80% of Maltese households


3. DIGITAL MEDIA

There has been a rapid increase in the use of broadband. From December 2004 till February 2006 broadband the number of subscribers increased from 39% to 47% of all Internet users. The Malta Communications Authority set the changeover date to digital TV at the end of 2010. Two TV organisations have been given the license and started broadcasting digitally already. Though no date has been set for the changeover, digital radio transmissions are expected to start in 2007.


4. NEWS AGENCIES

There are no Maltese news agencies. For the coverage of international news the media depends on foreign news agencies mainly Reuters followed by A.P.


5. ONLINE MEDIA

There is a very rapid increase of Internet subscriptions. Almost all the broadcasting and print media are present on the Web. Malta considered as one of the best countries for e-government services.


6. MEDIA ORGANIZATIONS

As a result of the relatively small size of the industry and the intense competition between its different sectors there are few active media organisations. The Malta Institute of Journalists has been established for a number of years. The Institute of Maltese Journalists was set up in 1987, originally as the Malta Press Club. The name was changed three years ago for a number of reasons, one of these was to be able to join the International Federation of Journalists as associate members, and the European Federation of Journalists as full members. The Journalists Committee was set up two years ago because its founding members felt that the IGM was not ‘aggressive’ enough. But since it was set up we have cooperated with each other and have enjoyed the best of relations. In 2006 we had discussions in the hope of setting up a trade union for journalists but the discussions fizzled out mainly because the Journalists Committee has since lost its original drive. They have not had any general meetings and rarely if ever meet and now its seems that the Committee is run on the initiative of two individuals.***

There is also the Malta Printers Association and the International Advertising Association Malta Chapter.


7. MEDIA POLICIES

Following discussions between the IGM (at the time the Malta Press Club) and the Government, the Press Law was amended and now includes changes which are considered as milestone, namely: the qualified privilege; confidentiality of the source; the right for information; and the Right of reply.** The broadcasting sector is mainly regulated by the Broadcasting Act of 1991. It was emended in 2000 to bring it in line with the TV Without Frontiers Directive of the European Union. The National Broadcasting Policy published in 2004 sets the new structures for PBS. PBS has a policy in favour of outsourcing most of its programmes. The percentage of outsourced programmes is thus by far larger than that mandated by the TV without Frontiers Directive, resulting in the boost of the audiovisual industry. One of the main financing features of all TV stations beside advertising is the sale of air time to independent producers.


8. ACCOUNTABILITY SYSTEMS

The Broadcasting Authority, a Constitutional body independent from the government, regulates the content of the broadcasting sector. Among other things it ensures the preservation of due impartiality in matters of political or industrial controversy or relating to current public policy. It also monitors radio and TV stations and regulates their performance in terms of their legal and license obligations. The Malta Communications Authority regulates the networks and services of the broadcasting and web based media. The Authority also grants licenses and resolves disputes relating to communications. The print media is characterized by self-regulation and in addition, it exists the Press Ethics Commission, set up by the Institute of Maltese Journalists in early 90s, that is also a characteristic of print media. This Commission is chaired by Professor Giuseppe Mifsud Bonnici, Chief Justice Emeritus and formerly member of the European Court of Human Rights. The Commission deals with complaints made by aggrieved parties, ironically sometimes by journalists against journalists. The Commission releases the decisions to the Press but these are normally ignored by the paper representing the guilty party.*** There is no need for a license to start publishing a newspaper; one only needs to register with the Press Registrar.


9. RECENT DEVELOPMENTS AND FUTURE TRENDS

While observers from overseas and most Maltese have been saying for a long time that the airwaves are saturated, these developments show that there are those who beg to differ. In fact over the last decade the number of broadcasting organizations has increased, not decreased. It can increase more since the Broadcasting Authority has 7 expressions of interest pending for a television channel, 10 new requests for a community radio station; 19 new requests for a nationwide radio station. Two areas of development that have to be monitored are (i) the future of public service broadcasting following the restructuring of PBS and (ii) the new possibilities following the rapid development of broadband use and the introduction of digital transmissions.

Future of PBS Ltd. The Annual Report of the Editorial Board (September 2005) warned that the ethos of public service broadcasting is under pressure since the commercial aspects of the company are being given prominence over its public service obligation. Own productions by PBS have almost disappeared. The main method of outsourcing used by PBS is the selling of airtime to independent producers. The Acting Chairman of the Editorial Board this year said echoed the same sentiments. Highlighting the danger that the commercial interests are taking over the public service interests (The Times 21/09/06. Retreived from http://www.timesofmalta.com/core/article.php?id=237359&hilite=Dominic+Fenech. Retrieved 23 September 2006). Even the Minister responsible for Government’s investments in PBS was quoted as saying that he is “a bit concerned” with the programming that PBS is broadcasting! (Malta Today 15/10/06 p.12).

Possibilities of broadband and digital. Will these new technologies be used mainly for the broadcast of “traditional” TV stations or will they carry interactive stations which can provide the viewers with many services from the comfort of their homes? Malta has still to clear jurisdiction questions with neighbouring countries to have enough frequencies to serve all local needs. The conclusion of such negotiations as well as the level of creativity of local producers will bear on the future of the service.

The possibilities of the new technologies combined with the more traditional ones are expected to keep changing the Maltese mediascape and the media usage patterns of the Maltese. Past experience has shown that though several technological innovations were introduced in Malta some time after their introduction in other countries once they are introduced their diffusion is very fast and existing patterns and scenarios are changed in a relatively short period of time. The future lies interestingly wide open.

The situation regarding PBS, the state media, is rather sad. Most of what was written is true, but it is also worth mentioning that the Editorial Board is now without its chairman, John Camilleri, who resigned as the Board was being constantly ignored by the Board of Directors.

The Board of Directors is more or less at the mercy of the Minister responsible for PBS, more because of political interest rather than commercial ones. ***


10. REFERENCES

  • Bord Editorjali (2005) L-ethos tax-xandir pubbliku that pressjoni. Rapport Annwali. Jannar-Settembru 2005.

  • Borg, J (2002) “The Democratisation of the Airwaves. Reflection on some cultural and institutional effects of the introduction of radio pluralism.” Paper presented at the 9th Meeting of European Conference of Christian Radios held in Malta 14-17 November 2002.

  • Broadcasting Act, Act nos. XII, 1991. Retrieved December 10, 2002 from http://www.ba-malta.org

  • Broadcasting Authority (1994) Annual Report. Malta: Broadcasting Authority

  • Broadcasting Authority (1995) Annual Report. Malta: Broadcasting Authority

  • Broadcasting Authority (2004) Radio and TV Audiences in Malta. June –December 2004.

  • Ernst & Young (2006) Audience Survey. March 2006. Malta: Ernst & Young

  • Media Warehouse Audience Survey October 2005. Malta: Informa Consultants

  • Media Warehouse Audience Survey April 2006. Malta: Informa Consultants

  • National Broadcasting Policy, (2004). Malta: Ministry for Tourism and Culture; Ministry for Investments and Information Technology.

  • National Statistics Organisation (29 April 2003) Dwelling and Household possessions. Press Release 60/2003

  • National Statistics Organisation (26 January 2005) Information Society Statistics. Press Release 081/2002.

  • National Statistics Organisation (3 April 2006) Information Society Statistics. Press Release 67/2006.

  • National Statistics Organisation (2005) Survey on Information Communication Technology in Schools. Malta: National Statistics Organisation

  • Vassallo, M (1999a) A Report and A Study of TV and Radio Audiences in Malta. April 1999 Malta: Broadcasting Authority.

  • Vassallo, M (2000b) A Report and A Study of TV and Radio Audiences in Malta. November 2000. Malta: Broadcasting Authority.

  • Vassallo, M (2002b) A Report and A Study of TV and Radio Audiences in Malta. November 2002. Malta: Broadcasting Authority.

  • Vassallo, M (2003b) A Report and A Study of TV and Radio Audiences in Malta. November 2002. Malta: Broadcasting Authority.

  • White Paper. Broadcasting: A Commitment to Pluralism. (1990) Malta: Department of Information.


11. AUTHOR

Fr Joseph Borg lectures in communication studies at the University of Malta. He is the Audiovisual policy consultant of the Minister of Culture. He was the first chairman of the Editorial Board of Public Broadcasting Services Ltd. and the first journalist to receive the Gold Award. Borg is the founder of RTK radio station, the Media Centre, the weekly paper IL-GENS and the programme of studies of media education programme in Church schools.


12. MEDIA RESOURCES

Newspaper

Audio/Visual Media

Media Institutions

Blogs/Civil Media Sources

Countries

Comment on Malta

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