Robert Abela’s New Style: Three Journalists Invited To Ask Him Questions On ONE TV
If you happened to tune in to Robert Abela’s address this morning, you may have noticed that the layout was significantly different.
Rather than have a ONE journalist ask him questions, the Prime Minister invited journalists from three media houses instead – namely MaltaToday’s Kurt Sansone, The Malta Independent’s Neil Camilleri and NET TV’s Christine Amaira.
And while the joint interview was still quite controlled, it provided a breath of fresh air and ensured the Prime Minister answered questions on issues he may otherwise have ignored – such as the recent developments surrounding the assassination of Daphne Caruana Galizia and the controversy over the government’s wrap-around ads about this week’s ‘mini-budget’ that appeared on most Sunday papers this morning.
It is tradition for the Labour Party leader to address his followers on ONE or to hold a political rally at 10:30am every Sunday. However, in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, Abela has also been using this weekly time slot to deliver huge announcements that concern the nation.
Today, he declared that Malta will imminently declare it is no longer in a public health emergency, that the rule limiting public gatherings to 75 people will be scrapped and that the airport will fully reopen on 15th July.
This drew the ire of the group Repubblika, which warned Abela has not yet realised he was appointed Prime Minister of the nation and not only leader of the Labour Party.
“Robert Abela should respect the Maltese people and stop using his party’s broadcasting services in order to announce national decisions,” Repubblika said. “The fact that Robert Abela keeps doing this time and time again is an insult to democracy.”
“By any chance, is Robert Abela thinking that the time has come to close down the national broadcasting stations and that we are to listen only to those belonging to his party?”
“Robert Abela’s flagrant use of his party’s media to express Government business is revealing of his arrogance towards Maltese citizens, without any respect for the individual views of each citizen. who he only considers as an extension of the Partit Laburista.”
Do you think the Prime Minister should use his party media to make national announcements on the COVID-19 pandemic?
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