The role of the popular press in Maltese society and politics 1927-1947

Abstract

This dissertation is essentially a brief study of the development of Maltese newspapers during a period in local history when two diametrically opposed political and cultural beliefs - italianita and anglophilism - came to maturity and attempted to prevail over each other. It is an examination of how journalism helped nourish these political beliefs until international circumstance and local and Imperial powers brought down the former and helped the latter to succeed. The year 1927 was chosen as the starting point of this study because it was with the return to power of the anglophile Constitutional Party - led by Gerald Strickland-that the two political beliefs began a head-on collision course which eventually left Malta orphaned of a substantial part of its cultural heritage. It was a time when italianita became openly associated with fascism by the proBritish elements in Malta, even though in its purest form, italianita implied the love for Italy as the 'madre patria' (mother country) in things which were essentially apolitical: language, literature, art, music, etc. The effects of W.W. II on the Maltese press was devastating, and this study not only examines how some newspapers managed to maintain production despite increasingly insurmountable odds but also how the press was used as a moral booster to cheer up both the garrison and the civilian population. Then it examines the resurgence of the press after the war ended for Malta. It traces the development of a new breed of newspapermen who were less ideological and more pragmatic than ever before. It is the aim of this dissertation to bring out the principal trends of Maltese journalism. It studies how, as the main (and often only) source of propaganda and information, the local press helped to mould Maltese society and how, in return, it was moulded by the events which were happening around it.