A global pandemic, two leadership elections, and the continuing repercussions of a journalist’s murder: it has been a tumultuous year.  But it wasn’t always the big stories that left their mark on Times of Malta journalists. Here they choose the stories that resonated most with them in 2020.

A windfarm in Montenegro

Jacob Borg 

Having written countless stories about corruption over the years, there was one in 2020 that stood out for its immediate political impact.

The Montenegro wind farm story showed how businessman Yorgen Fenech’s secret company 17 Black was quietly used to profit from a project that had long been mired in suspicions of corruption. 

Together with Reuters journalist Stephen Grey, we showed how the state-owned energy provider Enemalta paid over the odds for a barren tract of land on Mozura Hill. 

The difference in price was largely pocketed by Fenech – now facing charges of conspiring to murder anti-corruption journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia - via 17 Black. 

Within days, Prime Minister Robert Abela took decisive action to chuck out former Energy Minister Konrad Mizzi from the Labour Party.

Enemalta and the police both said they would investigate the case -  though things seem to have gone quiet on that front.

The pandemic party

Claire Farrugia

The story of a hotel party that ended weeks of zero new COVID-19 cases in Malta was, by far, the piece of journalism that left its mark on me most. 

I remember spending the day chasing leads and speaking to sources trying to confirm the information. At around 3pm, I finally managed to confirm that there were cases from the party. Writing the piece, I knew what it meant and how it would impact the thousands of people who rushed to read the story. 

I had to be aware of my duty to report, but also the responsibility to do so in a way that did not spark panic or fear. 

A national tragedy

Edwina Brincat

A house collapse in March sparked a national outpouring of grief and anger. How could Miriam Pace’s life have ended this way?

Sharing that national sentiment is one thing, hearing Miriam’s heartbroken husband testify in court, barely three months later, is quite another. 

I vividly recall an emotional Carmelo Pace describe his wife’s growing anxiety, her text messages reflecting fear as works progressed next door and his own horror upon rushing back to a home that was no more, swept away in the ‘waterfall’ effect witnessed by one terrified neighbour. A close-knit family had been ripped apart. 

While justice takes its course, may this tragedy never be swept away our collective memory, along with the rubble that was once Miriam’s home.

Exposing Malta’s mafia

Ivan Martin

In July 2020, after weeks of encrypted telephone conversations, I convinced a high-ranking source to meet me face-to-face. I wanted him to map out Malta’s organised crime groups and their role in a string of violent murders and bank robberies over the last decade.  

In the back of a sleepy village bar, my source reached for my note pad and drew out a family tree of Maltese mafia with branches that snaked through social classes, linking mobsters to lawyers, businessmen to bent cops, and smugglers to bribed judges. 

One of those branches lead to the Maksar crime family. 

Led by brothers, Robert and Adrian Agius, I learnt that the group had been identified as a ‘high value target’ by law enforcement agencies across Europe, with known interests in narcotics trafficking and smuggling.

For months my colleagues and I had also known that the Maksar crime group was suspected of supplying the bomb used to assassinate journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia. 

Jacob Borg and I agreed to partner up with MaltaToday editor Matthew Vella on an investigative report detailing the Maksar brothers’ suspected involvement in the Caruana Galizia case as well as their other suspected criminal activities.  This sort of collaboration has never happened before locally.  

We also teamed up with journalists from the Investigative Reporting Project in Italy on reporting the brothers’ suspected links to one of its most dangerous Mafia clans.  

Shortly after the story broke, I learnt that Prime Minister Robert Abela had represented the Agius brothers in court as recently as 2016.  

His ties to the brothers still pose a potential conflict of interest as Abela is set to decide on a pardon request by Vincent Muscat, one of the three men charged with triggering the device that killed Caruana Galizia. 

The first victim

Claudia Calleja

So much happened this year. So many stories written, in my case, from home where I have been working since March with little company except for my daughter who eventually returned to school. It was a struggle for all. 
There were many touching moments. One that stands out most is when the daughter of, Ġorġa Zammit, the first person to die of the virus, trusted me with her story despite the early stigma. 

But there was one other story close to my heart: I loved giving a voice to children’s reality. Showing how they feel about this “smelly,” “mean” virus and, how when it goes away, we will all hug each other. They cannot wait. Me neither.

 

A festival faux-pas

Fiona Galea Debono

After a 10-year absence, I was back in the newsroom just after the pandemic hit. It was therefore mind-bending to have to work on a story about a plan to attract tens of thousands of overseas revellers from high-risk countries to Malta for a series of mass music festivals.

This was, incomprehensibly, planned during a spike in COVID-19 cases, blamed on large gatherings. 

My party-pooping story revealed the sheer number of large-scale international music festivals being planned, with the collaboration of the tourism authorities, sparking outrage and calls for immediate bans.

Days later, even though the then tourism minister dug her heels in, and the event organisers were incommunicado, the festivals folded under the pressure and were cancelled. 

Malta breathed a small sigh of relief that the Mediterranean clubbing scene would not converge on it at such a crucial juncture in curbing the coronavirus.

Agnes inspires hope

Sarah Carabott

When the story of Agnes Mudembo, a Zimbabwean woman who was paid €250 a month for a seven-days-a-week job, appeared, I braced myself for the usual xenophobic and insulting messages. 

But I was pleasantly surprised. An elderly woman called to ask for directions to our office to donate €20 “because independent journalism matters and brings to light the reality of human trafficking in Malta”.

Another reader asked how she could pass on her nursing books to Agnes, who wants to fulfil a lifelong dream and become a nurse. 

The people raising funds for an educational programme that Agnes is benefiting from said that support had peaked over the weekend… and the comments under the article were all pleasant.

I will think back to Agnes’ inspiring story and the readers’ reaction whenever some email lands in my inbox trying to dishearten me from pursuing stories about human rights violations. 

A father’s heartbreak

Matthew Xuereb

As a father I firmly believe that no parent should ever have to bury their child.
I often report on court and crime stories and earlier this year, I interviewed Frank Mak, the father of murder victim Shannon.  

She was killed in cold blood by her former boyfriend, Jelle Rijpma, who was recently sentenced to 30 years in jail. 

The distraught father, who described his daughter as a happy-go-lucky girl who loved socialising and being around people, said the murderer was a “monster” and how the if it were for him, he would have him locked up in a prison cell and discard the key. 

The pain of having a daughter taken away in the most brutal manner, was laid bare. 

A family fort

Julian Delia

I remember walking around Fort Binġemma in disbelif, unable to stomach the idea that this piece of historical heritage was someone’s private playground – now complete with a private pool.

Discovering that a private pool was built in the protected 19th Century site was just the perfect cherry on top of the surreal saga that has been ongoing for four decades. 

The occupying family were granted a lease just before the 1981 election and successive governments have been unwilling or unable to intervene.  

I chose this as my favourite story of the year because it serves as a perfect example of the worst elements in our country's culture; cronyism, client-patron protection and a lack of equal measures.

A hidden gem

Jessica Arena

In a year filled with difficult and often demoralising news to report, the thing that gave me most joy to explore was the discovery of the Guido Stilon collection of photographs.

In February the Magna Żmien project exhibited some of the thousands of Stilon’s photographs which capture Malta between the 1950s and 1970s extensively. The project spent about a year restoring and digitizing the enormous collection.

Notwithstanding the cultural and significant importance of such a find, the artist himself was a joy to discover, so many years after his death, with his work revealing his deep passion for life, fun, artistry and a profound love for our country. 

Interviewing Guido’s friends, family and the talented people who worked hard to restore his work uncovered a humble person whose art might have never been discovered.

We ran a series of articles on his work and the exhibition was among the last I visited before COVID-19 struck.

I really identified with how Guido managed to capture a changing Malta in a crucial point of her history, a nice reminder that almost any strife can be weathered in time.