Reporting facts

I was devastated to read about the toddler falling two storeys (November 16).

I wonder, however, why the report seemed to go beyond the actual facts: “a toddler fell off a balcony…”

The circumstances of whether his mother was at home and so on seem perhaps superfluous because the background is not known, surely to be determined later by a magisterial inquiry.

It is not productive to feed public speculation in what may turn out to be the worst tragedy to befall somebody.

Unfortunately, in “Christian” Malta, people never allow the truth to get in the way of automatic judgement and condemnation. (Look at the story of that Libyan national, who also tried to save somebody from drowning last week.)

Similarly, there is too much ‘reporting’ in general where if the person/s involved is not Maltese (a terrible sin, it seems in xenophobic Malta) this is duly reported even when it is totally irrelevant to the story (for example, one’s ethnicity might be important to locate somebody etc.).

There is already a tidal wave of venom being facilitated by today’s (anti) social media. One I will never actually know first-hand, because I wouldn’t dream of being on any of them. Perhaps, it is important not to report in a way which will only feed it even more.

As for the rest of us, let us hope and pray for a miracle that this little boy lives… and heals totally from this awful accident.

Anna Micallef – Sliema

Work-life balance

Photo: Shutterstock.com

The article by Saviour Rizzo (November 15) elucidated in a good manner some of the basic facts about the topic of working at home but failed to take any stance in favour of any of the parties involved in the matter, that is, the employers and the employed.

Surely, irrespective of whatever employer lobbyist bodies may care to say, any legislation to be proposed on the subject, at either EU or even purely local level, should provide for:

a) written clarity of which and when are the hours that a worker is expected to be working (at his home);

b) which and when are the hours and which the method for employers to ring up or in any way communicate with such work-at-home employees;

c) clear laying down in written format of all such, and any other, aspects pertaining to the relationship between parties in work-at-home situations.

Failing the above, in reality, employers can often, in fact,  end up abusing grossly their employees.

John Consiglio – Birkirkara

Exploiting tragic deaths

Christopher Barbara (November 9) never misses a beat when it comes to repeating the hackneyed falsehood that the ban on abortion kills women. The truth is quite the opposite.

As to be expected, the tragic deaths of Savita Halappanavar in Ireland and now Izabela in Poland have been manipulated to the hilt by pro-abortionists.

Yet, an investigation into Savita’s death found that there were 13 missed opportunities to save her, resulting in her needless death from complications from a septic miscarriage.

However, the facts were ignored and her death was exploited to undermine Ireland’s pro-life laws.

The same vile strategy is now being aggressively carried out in Poland despite the Polish government attributing Izabela’s death to botched medical treatment.

In Poland, as in Malta, terminating a pregnancy to save a mother’s life is not an issue.

Yet, Barbara has the gall to persist in repeating the blatant lie that in Malta a pregnancy cannot be terminated when the mother’s life is at risk.

It is scandalous that Malta’s medical profession has not yet censored this dishonest accusation. Besides, it is a medical fact that abortion is damaging to women’s health.

Klaus Vella Bardon – Balzan