Politicians' omnipresence in Malta's independent newspapers

Abstract

It was once said that the attitude of the press towards politicians should display the same degree of respect the dog reserves for the lamp-post. But does this adage apply to Malta? A mere glance at the local independent newspapers would show immediately that politicians have saturating exposure in the news pages. Furthermore it seems that the politicians are given wide and prominent space in regular opinion columns and other forms of commentaries, in which they propagate their agendas. This study primarily aims to produce empirical evidence of the extent politicians have regular and profuse exposure. Apart from quantifying the space taken in newspapers through their contributions, the study also throws light on how this phenomenon relates to the media's role as a watchdog on politicians and a shield protecting society. Furthermore the study translates the space taken by politicians into advertising space so as to have another quantitative equation of this type of free-ride self-promotion. The researcher also quantifies the number of opinion pieces penned by other regular contributors in order to search for a number of conclusions on the extent to which newspapers accommodate politicians. The study also attempts to identify the real reasons for this situation. The study takes into account also theories of political communication; the relationship between the media and politicians; and the political polarisation in Malta. The fidings of this study should promote increased awareness of the independent media's relationship with politicians and also suggest that curricula of journalism studies might need a number of modifications.