Credible journalism relies on trust. When that trust is lost, a news company’s credibility is eroded and its role in a democratic society, weakened.

Western democracies are doing especially badly when it comes to public trust in the media. In many, including Malta, less than half the population does. And that is tragic.

No news organisation is immune to this crisis of trust. No news organisation, least of all one as prominent and as established as Times of Malta, can take its readers for granted.

If they are to retain that trust, news organisations must be able to explain damaging decisions to their public, and to admit to errors of judgement when they occur. News organisations must also live up to the same standards they demand of others.

There is another form of trust that is intrinsic to the business of delivering relevant and accurate news: that which the men and women who work to deliver the news have in their colleagues. They must be able to trust each other with information which could be criminal and dangerous when in the wrong hands. They should not be afraid to discuss ideas, perspectives and potential leads with their superiors and colleagues.

Times of Malta on Thursday ended a 15-year working relationship with one of its most senior journalists based on diverse issues which the company learnt in recent days and which the organisation deemed to be unacceptable.

Editors must be able to look their journalists in the eye, ask them a question and know that they are being told the truth. Management needs to know that each staff member abides by the company’s principles and regulations.

If that becomes impossible, then something irrevocable has been broken and it is time for parties to part ways. In this case, we acted swiftly to protect the integrity of Times of Malta’s newsroom. The company’s editors, management and board of directors were unanimous in their decision, even if that decision was harder knowing the journalist in question was among those probing the wrongdoings of the authorities.

We have no reason to suspect that any of our reporting has been tainted in any way.  Times of Malta also prides itself in a unique structure (at least in a Maltese context) because the commercial side of the organisation is kept distinctly apart from editorial.

Meanwhile, Malta’s ongoing political crisis has laid bare the grotesque spectacle of an institution imploding under the pressure of its own half-truths and bloated eagerness to tolerate misconduct.

Top government officials who should have resigned or been sacked at the first whiff of corruption continued serving for years under the leadership of a prime minister who turned a blind eye to blatant nepotism and disregard for basic rule of law.

Many politicians and businessmen would love to be given free rein to communicate only their good news stories, where no proper scrutiny or accountability of them existed. We have consistently said that we expect such people in high office to act according to the law, according to norms of basic respect.

We must also apply that standard to ourselves, even at the pain of losing one of the company’s most experienced hands.  But no individual is greater than Times of Malta, or what it stands for.

After 84 years, Times of Malta continues being at the forefront of credible and trustworthy journalism.

In 2019, our reporters have played a determining role in exposing dozens of cases of corruption and wrongdoing, some have even gone through great personal risk to expose the dealings of the underworld, to get to the bottom of Daphne Caruana Galizia’s murder.

A number of them continue doing so throughout the festive season.

In a so-called ‘post-truth’ world of fake news, credible journalism becomes more vital than ever before. But we can only continue delivering that if we can trust the people delivering the news as well as earning the trust of our readers.

We promise we will continue doing so through 2020.