Criminal Idleness

Can you imagine my surprise, not to speak of shock, when I went to The Times website on Sunday to find an article by Natalino Fenech, headlined "Drug police make record seizures", purporting to be some kind of shock scoop? The data will come as little news to those that read my post dating back to January 17, for which I expect to win multiple local blog awards. Yet the staleness of the "news" does not prevent Fenech from breathlessly divulging his information as though it had come from Deep Throat himself:

"Drug seizure statistics obtained by The Sunday Times show that in 2005 the police seized 15.5 kg of heroin, 6.4 kg of cocaine, nearly 17,300 Ecstasy pills and 21.5 kg of cannabis."

The use of the verb "obtained" is, I think, crucial to understanding what is wrong with so much Maltese journalism. To introduce an international parallel, anybody that has ever read an Italian newspaper will know how much space is taken up by interviews on topical issues. British and American newspapers also interview specialists, but they almost never transplant unexpurgated, irrelevant waffle into the heart of a news-filled page three. Their Italian counterparts have no such qualms and will happily devote 200-300 words of space to an interview with, say, Valeria Marini on the rise of interest rates. Indeed, interviewees need not be informed or erudite, they have to fulfil one simple prerequisite: answering the phone. Because if there is anything that Italian journalists hate having to do then that is doing research and leaving the office.
Well, Maltese journalists take this bone-idleness to new levels. Therefore, instead of finding stories and investigating them, they wait for the stories to come to them. Therefore, the implication of the word "obtained" here is that Natalino Fenech may have had to leave the office or make a phone call. Maybe the fax machine at the Ministry of Justice broke down, and he had to go and pick up the data in person. Maybe he couldn't read his own notes and had to call them back. The possibilities are limitless.
Perhaps this raises more worrying issues, such as why these statistics are not freely available on the Ministry web site. I searched for Maltese crime statistics a few days ago, but it was all in vain (If anyone can give me any tips on this front, it would be much appreciated). But I think it would be more interesting in this context to ask why a journalist for the most important newspapers in the country has reported the news so late, when all he had to do was pick up the phone and call 22957000, the phone number for the Ministry. Or there always faxes at 22957348. Or if he wanted to be really flashy, perhaps a quick e-mail to mjha@gov.mt. Indeed, after I complete this post, I will send the following e-mail to that very address:

"To whom it may concern,

May I kindly request the most recent statistics you have for drug seizures in Malta and Gozo. I am asking for this information in relation to a report appearing in the January 29 edition of The Times. Furthermore, could I also request data for seizures going back to January 2004 or the nearest date."

I will post on what response that garners, if any.
Incidentally, Fenech does not grace us with the knowledge of where it is he "obtained" his statistics from. Though he does do some maths for us:

"A total of 93 people were charged with drug trafficking last year - practically one person every four days - while another 333 were charged with drug possession."

And when he comes to analysing the implications of these findings, he stuns the reader with his startling powers of induction:

"Drug find statistics are interpreted differently by politicians: some interpret larger seizures as a sign of the police working harder to fight drug crime while others believe they are an indication of more drugs being available."

He fails altogether, however, to raise the issue of how the general population might interpret or react to this data. That will presumably be left to the moronic procession of self-appointed columnists. He hasn't bothered to interview any members of the public, representatives of drug rehabilitation centres, or, heaven forefend, drug users. No, he doesn't do any of those things, because they sound too much like hard work. And nobody likes hard work.

UPDATE: For a bit more sloppy journalism, note the front page story of this Sunday's Kullhadd:

"Meta Tony Abela kien imsejjah mill-Prim Ministru Lawrence Gonzi biex ikun mistoqsi dwar l-involviment tieghu ma’ Andrew Zammit, li jinsab mixli bi traffikar ta’ aktar minn 14-il kilo kokaina..."

Well, you can't say the MLP isn't striving to be overachieve. In a feat worthy of Jesus Christ's miracle at the wedding of Caana, the MLP newspaper has managed to transform cannabis into cocaine. Compare the sentence above with a line from an earlier report on the same scandal:

"Fil-Partit Nazzjonalista tezisti rabja kbira ghad-deputat Mario Galea wara li dan zvela li l-Prim Ministru Lawrence Gonzi baghat ghas-Segretarju Parlamentari Tony Abela u talbu spjega dwar l-involviment tieghu ma’ Andrew Abela li jinsab mixli bi traffikar tad-droga cannabis."

If Kullhadd had the same shady sources as Natalino Fenech they would know that only 6.4 kg of cocaine were seized last year.

UPDATE 2: Oh, and Andrew Zammit has been rebaptized Andrew Abela, possibly out of solidarity with the minister.