Brass in Pocket

Nigredo is guest hosting MaltaGirl's monthly carnival this month, and I think he's done quite a nice job of it. Check it out.

Meanwhile, it's been a very busy couple of days at the MaltaMedia Online Network. Like every other month since October 2000, every new month brings with it another issue of the aboutmalta.com newsletter. Besides this, we also had the Malta Government's Budget to deal with this time around. Once again MMON has produced a comprehensive feature to mark what is possibly the most-followed parliamentary session in our country.

Of some interest to webbies like me is the video stream of yesterday's press conference by the Prime Minister that the Department of Information has made available online. Aside from the so-Azzjoni Kattolika expression that PM Gonzi uses far too often (i.e. jekk il-bambin irid) the most risible aspect of the video stream is Mark Sciberras' name embedded in the meta tags for the video file. I have no idea who Mark Sciberras is, but according to the DOI website he is the Senior Information Officer (Publishing Unit). His name may forever be enshrined as the encoder of the press conference video if the files are retained for posterity by the DOI. And why not? Why don't you tell me? Just post a comment, if you must.

Still, even more pathetic is the single-camera coverage of the press conference itself. In an age where high-quality digital video cameras cost so much less than TV cameras used until about 5 years ago, I just can't believe that the national broadcasting company doesn't use more than one camera to bring its viewers such high-profile events. Once again, I'm afraid its a case of bad old ways getting the better of Malta's public broadcasting service and/or simply another instance where the people running the service are just out of touch with ways and means in 21st century broadcasting.