Opinion: A lesson for Robert

Keith Pace, Maria and Desideria Grixti pleaded guilty to having insulted and threatened physical violence against three ONE journalists. 

They admitted to breaching public order and swearing in public after the entire country watched aghast as the three of them brazenly threatened reporters with violence using vulgar and offensive language. 

Their vicious aggression and hostility manifested Malta’s worrying descent into a situation, which the majority accept, that bullies have absolute free hand to behave as they please, cowing law-abiding citizens into submission.  

Yet those three individuals, now sentenced for their crimes, have a lot to teach Robert Abela.

The footage of them viciously intimidating the young ONE reporter elicited widespread rage. Visibly disturbed, the reporter bravely attempted to remain calm but terror was in her eyes. 

“If you show my brother I’ll f… your entire family,” Desideria Grixti screeched at the reporter. When the ONE journalist asked her colleague to call the police, Keith Pace shouted “We don’t give a f…about the police” before discharging a barrage of vulgarities addressed at Minister Byron Camilleri.  

Everybody was appalled. The whole country demanded action against the three aggressors. The whole nation felt a deep sense of injustice that three violent persons could subject those ONE reporters who were simply doing their job to such horrific intimidation and abuse. 

There is something truly enraging watching tough guys openly and brazenly threatening a young female reporter on the very steps of the law courts.

The country’s wrath was quelled within 24 hours when those three individuals were swiftly brought before the court, where they admitted their crimes. 

Keith Pace was sentenced to a one year prison term, suspended for four years. Desideria Grixti was given a three year probation order, and Maria Grixti a one year probation order. The three got what they deserved. 

Those three individuals also gave Robert Abela an important lesson. They recognised that their behaviour had been unacceptable, and they admitted that bullying and intimidating journalists in a democratic society is criminal. 

They accepted their fate and expressed their remorse. “We are sorry,” they told the magistrate. 

Desideria Grixti even explained to the court that she had uploaded a post on social media expressing her remorse for what she had done before she was even arrested and charged.

Keith Pace and Maria Grixti are the parents of two young men, Carlos and Cleaven Pace, who stand accused of involvement in the 226 kg drug heist from the AFM Safi barracks. Desideria Grixti is their half-sister.  

Their hostility towards journalists can never be justified. Yet there can be no denying that they must be going through a very difficult time in their lives, watching their loved ones embroiled in that scandal. 

Their emotions at the time were  running high. They had the decency to admit they were wrong, to show remorse for their actions. And that is something Robert Abela ought to carefully consider and learn from.  

At least those three family members of the accused were penitent for the hate they showed towards journalists. Robert Abela never was for his.

It’s now been almost one year since the IGM, the institute of Maltese journalists, condemned Robert Abela for instigating “hate towards journalists and the media”. 

The prime minister had hastily called a press conference after criminal charges were filed against his friend and former boss, the disgraced Joseph Muscat.  

In that notorious press conference Abela accused journalists of “working for the establishment”, implying that they are “enemies of the State and of the people”. Abela also publicly humiliated one particular journalist, accusing her of fielding questions “to help the establishment”.

Even the usually timid IGM was appalled at the prime minister’s public intimidation and hostility towards journalists. Abela might not have used the f-word, but his public assault on journalists was no less vicious than that of the Pace family members in front of the law courts last week. 

The IGM issued a statement condemning Abela’s behaviour. It didn’t pull its punches: “When a serious case that may have political ramifications will be dealt with by the courts soon, the prime minister should not instigate hate towards journalists and the media”.  

Consider that statement for a moment. The national institute of journalists had to chastise the prime minister for instigating hate against journalists in a country where a fellow journalist was blown up just a few years earlier.

Unlike the relatives of Carlos and Cleaven Pace, Robert Abela didn’t relent. He didn’t apologise. He’s never shown any remorse. Instead, he doubled down.  

He has openly and brazenly threatened and intimidated journalists. He continues to instigate hate. He has falsely accused The Shift of being a “fake news blog”. 

Abela tried to incite other journalists against The Shift, encouraging them ”to study this phenomenon of The Shift news”. He deviously claimed that “their agenda is to push falsehoods and deceit”.

The Pace family members were swiftly rounded up, charged, convicted and sentenced for expressing their hate towards journalists but Robert Abela continues to instigate hate for journalists with gay abandon. 

He arrogantly ignored the IGM and simply doubled down on his anti-journalist rhetoric.

His sheer hypocrisy was evident when he pounced on the occasion for another photo opportunity. Sensing the national outrage at the way ONE journalists had been threatened, Abela visited those journalists at their newsroom.  

He uploaded photos of himself tightly embracing the young journalist subjected to that vicious assault. He commented on his post, “I visited the ONE News journalists and expressed my solidarity and courage (?) – no threat or attack should stop the important work they perform every day”. 

That’s right. Nothing should stop journalists doing their work to uncover the truth. No instigation of hate by Robert Abela, no obstinate obstruction by his government, and no amount of rejections of FOI requests should stop journalists from doing their jobs. 

Robert Abela should look at Keith Pace, Maria and Desideria Grixti and learn a vital lesson from them: intimidating and threatening journalists is something he should be ashamed of. At least they’re paying the price for their actions. He isn’t.