It’s incredible seeing many Maltese discovering sex and emotional educational education for the first time in their lives with Love Island. However, make no mistake about it. The fact that this programme has been allowed to be aired on the public broadcaster instead of on private channels is very calculating and well-intended by the Labour government. This was Labour’s aim with the public broadcaster from the very beginning: to dismantle its journalistic and educational potential and turn it into an entertainment and propaganda channel for the Labour Party.
Remember, for example, that as soon as Peppi Azzopardi was about to interview Simon Busuttil on Xarabank, his programme was replaced with another programme that was nowhere near profitable to Xarabank, but of course, fit Labour’s requirements as harmless and trash entertainment.
Now, it has to be said that Love Island is indirectly brought to us by state subsidy. Even the very fact that PBS and TVM exist by state funding is enough to ascertain this fact and this is also very well calculated by the Labour government. Given that the most profitable shows are aired on the public broadcaster, the government is taking away potential streams of revenue which can go to a private media industry, preemptively making barriers to entry to new entrants, unless they want to depend on the government.
So, basically, what’s happening is that TVM, which is a pro-Labour TV station controlled by the government, is hosting the most profitable show in the local broadcasting industry right now. I think this is the most notable issue in relation to Love Island. For anything else, I’ll happily leave the analysis of the behaviour of the indigenous natives to the local anthropologists.
Bread and Circuses!