Borg, J. (2015). Foreign Correspondents in Malta. Peculiarities of a Small Nation State. In Giorgios Terzis (Ed.). Mapping Foreign Correspondence in Europe. (pp. 171-179). New York and London: Routledge. Part of series: Routledge studies in European Communication Research and Education.
Foreign Correspondents in Malta
Peculiarities of a small nation state
Joseph Borg
Abstract
This paper researches Malta’s small corps of foreign correspondents whose members are all Maltese, through the administration of a questionnaire and semi-structured interviews carried during August and September 2012. Malta’s news value is enhanced by its membership of the EU and its geographical position at the centre of irregular migration from Africa; a position particularly news worthy during the conflict in Libya. The paper documents the media, structural and institutional influences on the news concept of the foreign correspondents. While conscious of the job reduction exercises done by the parent company the majority of foreign correspondents in Malta, all of whom are Maltese, is not afraid that their fate would be the same.
Introduction
At face value the small Mediterranean island of Malta, whose mediascape has interesting indigenous characteristics (Borg, 2009), should not make news beyond its shores barring some natural catastrophe. However, the country’s news value is more important than its size for two reasons. Its membership of the EU implies that events in Malta can have repercussions beyond its shores particularly during the eurozone crisis. Its geographical position as a frontier state of the EU, particularly during the uprising in Libya and the movement of irregular migration, also increased its news value.
This research was carried during August and September 2012 through a questionnaire and semi-structured interviews with 12 foreign correspondents in Malta. This combination of a quantitative and a qualitative approach helps the researcher get both a wide and a deep insight into the question studied. The structured interview technique implies the use of an interview guide used with all correspondents but enables the researcher to make follow-up questions (Langdridge & Hagger-Johnson, 2009). The journalists interviewed were identified after consulting several editors and examining the list foreign correspondents on the Department of Information website. This method ensured that the number of those interviewed are representative of FCs in Malta.
Who are the country’s correspondents?
All those registered as foreign correspondents in Malta (12 in total) are in fact Maltese citizens. Most of them work with a Maltese newspaper but then also work as part time foreign correspondents. Therefore one cannot find among this corps the same characteristics documented in several studies (for example Hess, 1996; Hannerz, 2004). The nomenclature “foreign correspondent” is, therefore, somewhat misleading. According to this research, seven correspondents have journalistic tasks, while five are photographers.
Hamilton and Jenner (2004) criticize Kalb’s (1990) position that the genre known as foreign correspondent is becoming extinct. They state that it is in evolution mainly due to economic pressures, global interdependence and technological innovations. They argue for a new model of foreign correspondence and propose a new typology which includes six categories of foreign correspondents alongside the elite/traditional foreign correspondent whose presence is on the decline in many countries. As noted above none of the foreign correspondents in Malta belong to the elite/traditional type. Consequently throughout this paper the term indigenous foreign correspondent or IFC in short will be used; it being preferred to the appellative “foreign, foreign correspondent” used by Hamiton and Jenner (2004).
IFCs generally work on their own, though three media organisations employ both a photographer and a journalist. Some of the correspondents work for more than one foreign media organisation. The journalistic tradition runs in some families, in fact three carry on the baton from their fathers. All IFCs describe themselves as stringers, albeit of the different kinds. One IFC strings for a number of different organisations specialising in photographing visiting foreign celebrities. One photographer works on assignments supporting a local journalist. Another has a contract with three established media organisations. Commitment varies. Six pitch weekly, one pitches monthly and five merely occasionally. Two are almost sleeper stringers who provide logistical support to visiting foreign staff or background information to the parent organisation. This is reflected in the remuneration packet of the seven who answered that particular question: two earn over 4,000 euro per month while two earn less than 1,000 euro per month, and the others in between.
The IFCs cover the whole gamut of media, from online to the more traditional media, from print to the broadcasting media, though there is a stronger presence in the latter. Seven work for news agencies, while three work for broadcast media and two for print media. With two exceptions, all media organisations represented are commercial ones, reflecting the contemporary commercialisation of the media. Some, for example Thomson Reuters and Associated Press (both represented by a journalist and photographer), have been present in Malta for many years. The UK and US have four correspondents each, France has two, and Australia and Germany one each. The interest of the Australian-based Special Broadcasting Services results from the great number of second and third generation Maltese in Australia. The English edition of Al Jazeera and the financial news station, Bloomberg, are comparatively newcomers.
Although all correspondents are Maltese, the first language of two of them is English: a reflection of Malta’s bilingualism. Most also speak Italian while a few also speak German or French or Spanish or Arabic. All but three have university education while half have studied communication or journalism at university level generally at under-graduate level. Two have doctoral degrees, though not in communication studies.
In Malta all IFCs are males, reflecting the fact that all newspaper editors and almost all editors of broadcasting stations and the new media are male. The religious profile of the Island is reflected in the composition of the group, as almost all are Catholic. While nine are married, one is single, another widowed and one divorced. The most senior foreign correspondent is 73 years old. The average age of the rest of the group is forty-one years. They have been working as journalists for periods varying from 13 to 45 years. Half have been stringing as foreign correspondents for less than seven years while others have been in the job for more than ten years. Two IFCs did short assignments overseas while one worked for an international media company. Only three said that they belonged to a journalists’ trade union.
What makes it into the Foreign Correspondent’s reporting agenda?
The debate about what is news has been part of the academic discussion at least since the seminal work of Galtung and Ruge (1965). Since then, many scholars produced lists of news value criteria. McQuail (2005) mentions ten criteria including drama, large scale of an event, relevance, proximity to home and personification. Christians, et al. (2012) list sixteen professional news values including proximity, impact, conflict, human interest, entertainment, novelty, immediacy and independence. Boyd (2001) gives six elements that are proximity, relevance, immediacy, interest, drama and entertainment. These criteria are reflected in the statements of the IFCs who also refer to the policy of the parent media organisations and the nature of the medium used as factors that influence whether an event is considered newsworthy or not.
The criteria of relevance (McQuail, 2005) and potential impact (Christians, et al., 2012) are manifested through Malta’s membership of the EU which gave back to Malta, albeit for a different reason, its traditional strategic importance. FC6 said that: “Whatever happens in Malta today can have an effect on the EU particularly in this time of economic crisis. Malta’s importance is far larger than its size.”
FC7 added an example: “The political instability that characterised our political scenario this year was of interest to our parent organisations. A change in government by a revolt of one back bencher in a one seat majority is interesting in itself. This becomes more so as it could change Malta’s position in the EU institutions.” FC8 said that, “the stand of a Government MP against Malta’s support for accession negotiations with Turkey interested people beyond our shores.”
The drama and personification criteria (McQuail, 2005) give news worthiness to the movement of irregular migration which was mentioned by almost all IFCs. In line with the proximity criteria (Boyd, 2001; McQuail, 2005) the IFC representing US-based media said that this only becomes news when these migrants are accepted by the United States.
As irregular migration has been happening of many years, the innovation criterion wears off and compassion fatigue creeps in (Moeller, 1999). Most IFCs noted this element of news fatigue adding that the arrival of migrants now becomes news only when the numbers are relatively large or when there is a particularly dramatic human-interest element or when there is a standoff between Malta and Italy about the port of welcome. Several IFCs noted an EU dimension since the subject is on its agenda. Malta’s policy of detaining migrants before deploying them in open centres is deemed to have news value as, in the words of FC1, “it had attracted criticism of several international NGOs or institutions.”
IFCs noted that Malta’s geographical position was of prime news value during the uprising against Gaddafi. The conflict and impact criteria (Christians, et al., 2012) were buttressed by the large scale of the event (McQuail, 2005). Malta became a base for the coordination of humanitarian assistance as well as journalistic activity. IFCs generally described it as the most important story for many years but three said that they only provided logistical support for “parachute” journalists. Some said that thanks to their local contacts they managed to file in very important stories either from their base in Malta or from Libya itself where they were sent on assignment. Most foreign correspondents complained that their task was made more difficult when international agencies were broadcasting false reports about Malta. An instance mentioned was the untrue report on the international media that two Libyan warships had entered Malta’s main harbour during the uprising against Gaddafi. “My editor phoned angrily asking me why I did not file a story which was so hot on the wire. I had a hard time persuading him that the story was not true,” said FC8.
News is also about what is out of the ordinary (Christians, et al., 2012). “The May 2011 divorce referendum was of interest as Malta was the only European country without divorce legislation,” said FC7. Most IFCs subscribed to this statement. Visits by international figures are always news but their relevance is balanced by the proximity factor. DPA considers visits by German politicians to be of importance; AFP gives more prominence to French personalities while AP goes more for American public figures. IFCs said that they were bypassed during the visit of US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton as the press corps that habitually accompanies her took precedence. The same thing happened during a visit by Pope Benedict in April 2010. Others were given specific briefs, for example they were asked to frame the visit within the clerical child abuse scandal that was rocking the Catholic Church locally and internationally. On the other hand, FC3, who was stringing for an Italian magazine, said that his brief was to film Pope Benedict with the people.
International show-biz celebrities are also news worthy (Golding & Elliot, 2000). The IFCs said that this was mainly the domain of photographers who, in turn, lamented big competition from the foreign paparazzi. However, as FC3 said, their local knowledge and contacts enabled the Maltese to outdo the foreign photographers on several occasions. Tailing celebrities can be problematic; FC3 was beaten by an actor’s bodyguards.
Proximity is one of the most important characteristics of news worthiness, and is not just about physical distance. FC4 files more weekly reports for the Australian Special Broadcasting Services than the others. The presence of a very large audience of Maltese migrants in Australia makes Maltese news close to people who are physically very far away. The proximity criterion is evidenced in sports. ICF photographers said that the parent organisations are interested in photos of international football matches particularly when the result makes a difference to who qualifies in the European Nations or World Cup competitions.
What makes it to the news pages or programmes is also medium-influenced. Photojournalist FC5 said that, “a good picture can be accepted and distributed internationally even if it does not fulfil the ordinary characteristics of news value. Journalists have to meet stricter criteria.”
With the exception of the correspondent of SBS, the other correspondents file from twice a week to occasionally. Generally the decision to file is taken by the IFC based on his knowledge of the company’s news culture. Rates of acceptance vary from 90 to 100 per cent. This gives credence to Harrison’s (2006) hypothesis that news is what journalists judge to be worthy of putting in the media within the confinements of the news organisation for which they work. In a minority of cases the editors ask for something specific or for a particular angle to the story. The IFCs said that this generally happens when editors have prior knowledge of an event, for example a visit by a foreign dignitary, or because they would want to place it in the context of other stories they are covering.
When is something becoming Foreign Correspondent’s news?
The IFCs said that there are two main annual seasons providing a pattern of news picks and lows. FC8 summed the collective position: “Summer and early autumn gives us the news about illegal migration.” The photographers said summer presents most photo opportunities for traditional occasions like the village festas, the international jazz festival and the Isle of MTV music festival.
The IFCs said that political developments provide most news material during the winter/spring season. The news value of the political scene was greater during the researched period as the government’s one seat majority was threatened by its own back bench. The correspondents of Thomson Reuters and Bloomberg also mentioned the news value of the annual report and comments made by the Governor of the Central Bank who is also a member of the board of the European Central Bank.