The Department of Information's duty to inform

The Nationalist Party has accused the Department of Information 'of having reached the partisan extreme of quoting from the Labour Party newspaper KullHadd instead of publishing concise statements issued by Moody's over the past months.' This assertion is incorrect.

It must be pointed out that on January 27 the Department of Information had informed the Press that Moody's report of January 22, 1998 referred to 'concern that domestic political constraints may impede efforts to trim the large fiscal deficit and to proceed with other structural reforms that are necessary to raise the level of the country's competitiveness.' This was meant to correct the false impression created by The Times which, on the same day, had erroneously reported that 'VAT, EU among reasons for Moody's credit rating review'. The subtitle of that same report ran as follows: 'After July 1997 the country's credit rating started to deteriorate', the latter assertion being incorrectly attributed to Ms. Amin-Salem.

The Department of Information had also pointed out that no reference was made in Moody'sstatement to the arguments that The Times ascribed to Ms. Amin-Salem, Moody's analyst.

In the same way that the Department of Information referred to Moody's report on Malta, it likewise further quoted Moody's spokesman as reported exclusively in the Sunday newspaper KullHadd. It is the duty of the Department of Information to inform the public which statements are correct and which are not.

It was not the DOI which pointed out that Moody's comments were misconstrued but Moody'sthemselves: 'the articles (on VAT and the EU) were really misconstrued', were the exact words expressed by Ms. Amin-Salem.

What section of the Press was quoted is irrelevant and immaterial. What is important is the fact that the comments were in the public domain and that they were not refuted, denied, contradicted or in any way contested by any individual citizen or institution. In other words the Department of Information was simply quoting articles that, to all intents and purposes, were universally acknowledged as having cleared the air regarding the polemic starting when Moody's comments on Maltese national affairs were misconstrued.

It was the Department of Information's duty to underline Ms Amin-Salem's opinion that: "The Budget that was announced in November of last year (1997) is certainly a step in the right direction and what we need to do is to look closely at the extent to which the planned deficit-reduction targets can in fact be met."

It cannot be sufficiently emphasized that Moody's comments point to two main characteristics of government policy:

(1) By virtue of the 1998 Budget, Government has taken measures to combat the structural deficits in the balance of payment.

(2) These financial imbalances in the fiscal and external accounts have been there for years.

Media manipulation is a well known technique. It has become the habit of some quarters who believe that they have a monopoly on truth to insinuate that it is the Department of Information which tries that approach. The Moody's affair has thrown a clear light on who is responsible for the real manipulation of news going on, where it is originating from and how it has been happening.

Dmir id-Dipartiment ta' l-Informazzjoni li jinforma lill-poplu

Il-Partit Nazzjonalista il-bieraó akkuúa lid-Dipartiment ta' l-Informazzjoni li qed ikun partiííjan dwar il-kummenti ta' Moody's fuq il-qaæda finanzjarja attwali. Din ix-xilja hija úbaljata. Jeótieí jinæad li, fis-27 tax-xahar li æadda, id-Dipartiment ta' l-Informazzjoni kien æarraf lill-íurnali u lill-mezzi tax-xandir li r-rapport ta' Moody's tat-22 ta' Jannar semma' t-tóassib li forzi politiði domestiði jistæu jfixklu l-isforzi biex jitnaqqas id-defiðit fiskali kbir u biex isiru riformi strutturali oórajn li huma meótieía biex joæla l-livell tal-kompetizzjoni tal-pajjiú.'

Dan sar biex tissewwa l-impressjoni óaúina li næatat mill-íurnali In-Nazzjon, The Times u l-istazzjon tar-Radju 101 fis-27 ta' Jannar li xandru rapporti foloz li 'VAT u l-Unjoni Ewropea kienu fost ir-raíunijiet æar-rating ta' Moody's.' Dan it-taærif úbaljat tennieh kemm-il darba l-Kap tal-Partit Nazzjonalista Dr. Eddie Fenech Adami.

Id-Dipartiment ta' l-Informazzjoni kien saóaq ukoll li fl-istqarrija ta' Moody's ma kien hemm l-ebda riferenza æall-argumenti li l-íurnali u l-mezzi tax-xandir imsemmija attribwew lil Hanan Amin-Salem, l-analista ta' Moody's. Bl-istess mod li d-Dipartiment ta' l-Informazzjoni semma r-rapport ta' Moody'sfuq Malta, ikkwota wkoll il-kelliema ta' Moody's kif íiet irrapurtata esklussivament fil-íurnal KullÓadd(1 ta' Frar 1998).

Huwa d-dmir tad-Dipartiment ta' l-Informazzjoni li jæarraf lill-pubbliku liema stqarrijiet ikunu korretti u liema ma jkunux. Ma kienx id-Dipartiment ta' l-Informazzjoni li qal li l-kummenti ta' Moody's, kif rappurtati f'dawn il-íurnali u l-mezzi tax-xandir, kienu mæawíin. Kienet Hanan Amin-Salem, l-analista ta' Moody's li qalet: 'L-artikli (fuq il-VAT u l-Unjoni Ewropea) kienu tabilóaqq mæawíin.' Dan kien il-kliem preðiú ta' Amin-Salem.

Liema taqsima ta' l-istampa íiet ikkwotata huwa irrelevanti u bla siwi. L-importanti huwa l-fatt li l-kummenti kienu saru fil-pubbliku u li la kienu miðóuda, la kontraddetti u lanqas kontestati minn l-ebda ðittadin individwali jew istituzzjoni. Fi kliem ieóor, id-Dipartiment ta' l-Informazzjoni kulma æamel kien li kkwota artikli li íew maærufa minn kulóadd bóala kjarifika dwar polemika mibdija minn min æawweí il-kummenti ta' Moody's dwar ówejjeí nazzjonali.

Kien dmir id-Dipartiment ta' l-Informazzjoni li jisóaq fuq il-fehma ta' Amin-Salem li "l-Budget li tóabbar f'Novembru 1997 kien bla dubju pass fid-direzzjoni t-tajba u li dak li hu meótieí li jsir hu li nóarsu sew biex naraw sa fejn l-æanijiet maósuba biex inaqqsu d-defiðit jistæu jintlaóqu".

Huwa importanti li wieóed jisóaq li l-kummenti ta' Moody's jixhdu úewí bixriet ewlenin tal-politika tal-Gvern:

(1) Bil-Budget ta' dis-sena l-Gvern óa miúuri biex jissielet mad-defiðit strutturali fil-bilanð tal-pagamenti; u

(2) Dawn l-iúbilanði finanzjarji fil-kontijiet fiskali u barranin ilhom hemm is-snin.

Il-manipulazzjoni ta' l-istampa u x-xandir hija teknika maærufa sew. Saret id-drawwa ta' xi kwartieri li jemmnu li æandhom monopolju fuq il-verita` li jinsinwaw li d-Dipartiment ta' l-Informazzjoni qed imexxi lill-Istampa minn imneóirha. Il-kwistjoni ta' Moody's tefæet dawl qawwi fuq min jaóti æall-manipulazzjoni ta' l-aóbarijiet li æaddejja bóalissa, minn fejn íejja u kif qed tinóadem.