When I founded The Maltese Herald , we started with three employees and myself. After four years locked in a Court battle with the Maltese government, I was finally able to tap public funding and received a government contract. The Maltese press is mostly dependent on public funding.
When I received my contract, Saviour Balzan went berserk and accused me of not “being a good businessman”. This is quite rich coming from a man whose press was bankrupt in 2012. Saviour Balzan used to complain on a regular basis that the Lawrence Gonzi government had cut him off from all public funding while the government funded the rest of the press.
When Joseph Muscat entered office, Saviour Balzan was showered with public money and his press was bailed out. Nowadays, MaltaToday‘s revenue comes mostly from the government with its private income being completely negligible.
Today, Saviour Balzan has become the same kind of editor he used to complain about: an editor who is actively conspiring with the incumbent government to sustain his propaganda business whilst retaining barriers of entry against other younger and newer participants in the industry.
Comfortably dependent on public funding, Saviour Balzan has the cheek to accuse start-up founders of being “bad businessmen”.
These public funding measure are in gross violations of the European Media Freedom Act, and we reserve our right to apply legal measures against the ongoing distortion of the press via public funding that is nothing less than Viktor Orban-like.
Rosianne Cutajar was investigated over corruption, fraud and money-laundering, and her case was covered up by the Police Commissioner while her reputation was laundered by MaltaToday and Saviour Balzan. MaltaToday is dependent on public funding.
Website Editor
Historian and Publisher
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