MALTA
Times of Malta
Wednesday, October 29, 2014, 16:01 by Steve Mallia
Three days ago The Sunday Times of Malta broke a story on its front page about a priest who is facing sexual abuse allegations. Today, the Malta Independent chose to run the same story as its own.
However, the point of this blog is more fundamental: we knew the identity of the priest and opted not to publish it. They found out his identity after we ran the story and decided to splash it with his photo on the front page of their newspaper. Aside from the obvious gap in timeliness, the burning question is: who got it right?
For anyone who sits in an editor’s chair, this is an immensely difficult call to make. Do you go with your natural journalistic instinct to publish all the facts because you want to come out with the full story before anyone else, or do you observe the principles that ought to guide your decision making? Sometimes the call is black and white, but more often than not it tends to be invaded by those very annoying shades of grey.
As we wrestled with a potentially hot and shocking story the day before publication last Saturday, the issue of whether to name or not to name was pinged back and forth. We decided against naming him. But to avoid a situation where suspicion could be cast on every priest in Malta, we opted to release certain details. We said he is 54, that he is based in Rabat and listed the charges against him.
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