Secondary-door tactics becoming norm

The Prime Minister and his Cabinet colleagues may run away from waiting journalists but they cannot hide.

Admittedly, having journalists breathing down your neck and monitoring your every move is not exactly something to look forward to. However, politicians must surely realise they are constantly accountable to the people, especially if they are in decision-making positions. If they do not like the heat, they can get out of the kitchen.

It is, unfortunately, becoming the norm for ministers attending public events to evade the press by using secondary exits. Avoiding journalists is not something only Maltese politicians do, mind you. Indeed, during a brief visit to the island just a few days ago, British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson would not take questions from the media though he did give a comment to PBS later, even if limiting himself to Donald Trump’s victory in the US. The Maltese media would have loved to discuss with him Malta-UK relations post-Brexit.

Last week, Tourism Minister Edward Zammit Lewis employed the ‘secondary-door tactic’, leaving journalists waiting in vain at the airport. Representatives of the Times of Malta, MaltaToday and Net TV who wanted to ask...