We are the champions
I have a feeling that Pierre J. Mejlak is suffering from a serious hang over this morning. He was at the 15th Annual Malta Journalism Awards ceremony last night, where he won the e-journalism category. I blogged about the awards at Wired Temples yesterday morning (that was my final entry in this round of guest blogging)...and predicted Pierre's win. He deserves it.
Congratulations to all the winners.
Jacques has already blogged about how The Times is gloating about winning 6 awards. Should MaltaMedia feel elated that it had all the final nominations in the e-journalism category? Jacques is right about competition.
Here's a picture of Pierre (left) at the glorious moment during yestsday evening's ceremony in Hamrun.
posted by Toni Sant at 11:08 AM
E-journalism and e-chickens
A very well done to Pierre and all the team at MaltaMedia. I am proud to have such friends more than colleagues.
We are in the sixth year of news production, still struggling to stay afloat with the little advertising and news syndication we have. It would not have been possible to survive were it not for the unwavering dedication of Toni Sant, Saviour Zammit and other former colleagues like Silvio de Bono, Albert Marshall and Ray Bajada who are/were at the helm of MaltaMedia.
Pierre was right in saying at the awards ceremony that e-journalism needs a good push. Journalists still need to appreciate that e-journalism is not a simple copy/paste from print or simply publishing a broadcast script. It' much more than that. I fear we would need to see many more journalism awards pass by to see any significant e-journalism on a national scale.
On the other hand the lack of support from advertisers is a major stumbling block. With little funds to spare, online news websites cannot invest in their human resources and technology to improve their service.
It's very much a chicken-and-egg situation and we know who may be chickening out. Pity.
I am proud MaltaMedia is carrying the colours almost single-handed for the time being.
Martin Debattista
Editor in Chief
MaltaMedia OnLine Network
P.S. Dear Toni, you may well regard this as my alpha version of a blog.
Martin, thank you very much for your public comments about MaltaMedia's success at the Malta Journalism Awards. E-Journalism in Malta would still be even more primitive were it not for your tireless efforts to lead MaltaMedia's news team over the past 6 years. Few people realise that online journalism takes more than simply placing text and images online as appear in traditional media. You have a clear understanding of the bigger picture within our online network vis-a-vis global trends in web publishing.
I look forward to your blog! The Maltese blogosphere will be greatly enriched with your contributions. Perhaps we can get you to guest blog on Wired Temples next.
Ton, I accept your invitiation to guest blog with pleasure.
I has been quite an experience to work with you all those years.
One day I shall write about our first meeting at Radio One Live and the second one in front of St. John's Co-Cathedral. Few people really know that it is here that e-journalism was conceived in Malta ...
Martin
Thanks, Toni. I dedicated the award to you and Martin. I owe a great deal to both of you. I'm at the airport. Will hopefully find some time to jot down a few lines late tonight.
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