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The ''Times of Malta'' is an English-language daily newspaper in
Malta Malta, officially the Republic of Malta, is an island country in Southern Europe located in the Mediterranean Sea, between Sicily and North Africa. It consists of an archipelago south of Italy, east of Tunisia, and north of Libya. The two ...
. Founded in 1935, by Lord and Lady Strickland and Lord Strickland's daughter Mabel, it is the oldest daily newspaper still in circulation in Malta. It has the widest circulation of any Maltese newspaper. The newspaper is published by Allied Newspapers Limited, which is owned by the Strickland Foundation, a charitable trust established by Mabel Strickland in 1979 to control the majority of the company.


History

The history of ''The Times'' of Malta is linked with that of its publishing house, Allied Newspapers Limited. This institution has a history going back to the 1920s, when it pioneered journalism and the printing industry in Malta. It all started with the publication, by Gerald Strickland, of Malta's first evening newspaper in Maltese, ''Il-Progress''. This was a four-page daily with its own printing offices in what was then 10A, Strada Reale,
Valletta Valletta ( ; , ) is the capital city of Malta and one of its 68 Local councils of Malta, council areas. Located between the Grand Harbour to the east and Marsamxett Harbour to the west, its population as of 2021 was 5,157. As Malta’s capital ...
. The name "Progress" is retained to this day by the commercial sister of Allied Newspapers Limited, Progress Press Company Limited, formed in 1946. Bilingual journalism, Maltese and English, was introduced in Malta with the publication, on 3 February 1922, of an English supplement to ''Il-Progress''. ''The Times of Malta'' and ''Il-Progress'' lasted until 1 March 1929. The English supplement then became ''The Times of Malta Weekly'' (forerunner of ''The Sunday Times of Malta''). The Maltese side was named ''Ix-Xemx'', later changed to ''Id-Dehen'' and later still to ''Il-Berqa'', first published on 29 January 1932. ''Il-Berqa'' ceased publication on 30 November 1968. In February 1931, Progress Press moved from Strada Reale to 341, St Paul Street, Valletta, until recently the site of Allied Newspapers Limited, also known as ''Strickland House''. As readership of the English supplement to ''Il-Progress'' soared, Lord Strickland was quick to see that there was room for an English daily. This would happen, so long as the new publication achieved and maintained a high standard of public service in information. The first issue of ''The Times of Malta'' was published in full co-operation with the British
MI5 MI5 ( Military Intelligence, Section 5), officially the Security Service, is the United Kingdom's domestic counter-intelligence and security agency and is part of its intelligence machinery alongside the Secret Intelligence Service (MI6), Gov ...
on 7 August 1935 under menacing war clouds as
Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...
planned the invasion of Abyssinia, which began in October of that year. On 2 September 1935, Mabel Strickland, who was a founder member of Allied Malta Newspapers Limited and formed part of the first Board of Directors, became the first editor of ''The Times of Malta''. She also edited ''The Sunday Times of Malta'' from 1935 to 1950 when she was succeeded by the late George Sammut, who retired in 1966. Anthony Montanaro was the next editor. He retired on 1 March 1991 and was succeeded by Laurence Grech. On 6 August 1960, the 25th anniversary of ''The Times of Malta'', Strickland wrote that ''The Times of Malta'', whilst originally the Constitutionalist political party's paper, had become a national newspaper. The paper gained a reputation for objective reporting whilst upholding its own strongly held editorial opinion. Strickland's editorship covered the difficult years of World War II. Nevertheless, none of the newspapers forming part of the Group ever missed an issue, in spite of continuous bombing and many shortages in the siege years between 1940 and 1943. The building was bombed twice, receiving a direct hit on 7 April 1942, when sixteen rooms were demolished. However, the newspaper production never halted. Thomas Hedley took over as editor from Strickland in 1950. He edited the paper through the traumatic years of political and industrial change, culminating in Malta's Independence in 1964. Under the editorship of Charles Grech Orr, ''The Times'' kept up the tradition of never missing an issue when twice hit by industrial action in 1973 and when political arsonists burned the building down on 15 October 1979. That date came to be known as " Black Monday". In the face of serious danger, the editor and his staff had to abandon the building. Printing of the following day's paper continued at another printing press, Independence Press. The paper was out on the street as usual the following morning, reduced in size but a triumph for freedom of expression. During the last 10 years, its website timesofmalta.com has become the primary news source in Malta and one of the main news websites in the Mediterranean. In June 2019, Herman Grech was appointed editor-in-chief, Bertrand Borg online editor and Mark Wood print editor. In March 2021, Adrian Hillman, the former director of the Allied Group and Vince Buhagiar, the former chairman of Progress Press were charged in court with various fraud and money-laundering offences. It is alleged that Hillman and Buhagiar conspired with Keith Schembri, former
chief of staff The title chief of staff (or head of staff) identifies the leader of a complex organization such as the armed forces, institution, or body of persons and it also may identify a principal staff officer (PSO), who is the coordinator of the supportin ...
to Prime Minister Joseph Muscat, to defraud Progress Press of around €5.5 million by inflating the prices of machinery purchased from Schembri's company Kasco and sharing the profits between themselves.


Fact-Checking Initiative

In 2023, the Times of Malta and the
University of Malta The University of Malta (, UM, formerly UOM) is a higher education institution in Malta. It offers undergraduate bachelor's degrees, postgraduate master's degrees and postgraduate doctorates. It is a member of the European University Association, ...
's Department of Media and Communications joined the EU-funded MedDMO project. The project is part of the European Digital Media Observatory (EDMO) and aims to develop tools to identify
fake news Fake news or information disorder is false or misleading information (misinformation, disinformation, propaganda, and hoaxes) claiming the aesthetics and legitimacy of news. Fake news often has the aim of damaging the reputation of a person ...
in
Malta Malta, officially the Republic of Malta, is an island country in Southern Europe located in the Mediterranean Sea, between Sicily and North Africa. It consists of an archipelago south of Italy, east of Tunisia, and north of Libya. The two ...
,
Greece Greece, officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. Located on the southern tip of the Balkan peninsula, it shares land borders with Albania to the northwest, North Macedonia and Bulgaria to the north, and Turkey to th ...
, and
Cyprus Cyprus (), officially the Republic of Cyprus, is an island country in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Situated in West Asia, its cultural identity and geopolitical orientation are overwhelmingly Southeast European. Cyprus is the List of isl ...
. Key partners include
Agence France-Presse Agence France-Presse (; AFP) is a French international news agency headquartered in Paris, France. Founded in 1835 as Havas, it is the world's oldest news agency. With 2,400 employees of 100 nationalities, AFP has an editorial presence in 260 c ...
(AFP) and several academic institutions. Leading the initiative are Mr. Neville Borg and Prof. Ġorġ Mallia.


Controversies

In early 2024, the Times of Malta was accused of spreading fake news after publishing articles alleging Papaya Ltd’s involvement in
money laundering Money laundering is the process of illegally concealing the origin of money obtained from illicit activities (often known as dirty money) such as drug trafficking, sex work, terrorism, corruption, and embezzlement, and converting the funds i ...
and ties to Russian organized crime. Investigations by the Western Morning News and Financial Monthly found these claims against Papaya Ltd baseless. Furthermore, no government authorities had accused Papaya Ltd, leading to criticism of the Times of Malta for
misinformation Misinformation is incorrect or misleading information. Misinformation and disinformation are not interchangeable terms: misinformation can exist with or without specific malicious intent, whereas disinformation is distinct in that the information ...
.


Editors


References


External links

* {{official, http://www.timesofmalta.com Newspapers established in 1935 1935 establishments in Malta Maltese news websites English-language newspapers published in Malta