Cottonera as portrayed in the print media : 1987-1997

Abstract

The Cottonera has gone through major changes from before the second World War to nowadays. From an area housing the higher Maltese classes it became the gutter of the island, in the general people's views, a hub of vices and crime. Lately, though, this trend is changing and new initiatives and projects are being proposed and undertaken by both the Government and private investors. These historical changes are highlighted in this dissertation followed by a content analysis of the daily Maltese newspapers published between 1987 und 1997, in search of representations of the Cottonera. These representations where then divided up into positive and negative so as to be able to analyse what was the overall depiction of the area over the sampled period often years and if there was a shift from negative to positive.