Il-ġurnalisti professjonisti? Riflessjonijiet, aspirazzjonijiet għal status professjonali

Abstract

This paper, written in 2000, looks at the recent boost given to professional aspirations in Maltese newsrooms. It explains how higher educational standards and journalists' organisations like The Malta Press Club were helping journalists to acquire better analytical skills, become more reflexive about their position, and more sensitive to ethical issues. Such aspirations were encouraging more journalists to slowly but steadily inch their way towards greater independence. In a milieu where most aspects of social and political life are overwhelmed by institutional influence ( coming from the state, political paities and the church) aspirations towards greater autonomy are driving some journalists to write stories that are setting the national agenda, giving rise to a Maltese fourth estate. Yet, the paper points out that this journalism still coexists with traditional fonns of advocacy journalism that still feature prominently in the Maltese media landscape, and we need to reflect further on the implications of this.