The diffusion of information in Malta

Abstract

All that I can offer on the subject are some personal observations which may, perhaps, serve either just as an occasion for comparison with the personal observations of others or, at most, as a hypothesis which it might be possible to test by more objective methods of checking its validity. The first proposition is that local news in Malta still spreads by word of mouth faster than through the media. The second proposition is that, although the mass-media in Malta have not got much of a newsgiving function, they have another quite specific function with regard to the news. The third proposition is that the interpretation of the news takes place once again in another phase of oral exchanges.