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Commentary（https://cap.mt/category/commentary/）

Selling credibility to the highest bidder

By Julian Delia（https://cap.mt/author/julian/） August 14, 2025 One Comment（https://cap.mt/2025/08/14/selling-credibility-to-the-highest-bidder/#comments） 8 min read

Home（https://cap.mt/） » News（https://cap.mt/news/） » Selling credibility to the highest bidder

I invite you to look at the two Facebook posts reproduced below and think of the underlying subtext.

I know, I know – some of you are probably already thinking “oh dear, here he goes again（https://cap.mt/2023/10/15/why-the-public-must-invest-in-journalism/） , ranting and raving about media houses raking in money from advertising. What’s wrong with that?”

I mean, who the hell even thinks about these things midway through Santa Marija season? Well, unfortunately for some, I don’t seem to have an off switch, and so here we are.

Look, I get it. Newsrooms across the globe are strapped for cash and it’s become a race to the bottom. I myself have had to spend half my summer chasing potential donors and sponsors to keep this project afloat (more on that soon), so I’m keenly aware of how exhausting this process is.

To some extent, I empathise with any newsroom facing this struggle, even the ones which do not prioritise public interest journalism.

The key differentiator here is who you choose to accept money from, and on what terms.

There is nothing inherently wrong with advertising. Major newsrooms get plenty of eyeballs looking at their websites. Ambitious companies with sizeable marketing budgets want to be seen on the biggest spaces they can find. The tradeoff is mutually beneficial, if it comes with no strings attached.

However, when you’re accepting money from some of the dodgiest people in the country, there is no such thing as no strings attached. Your reputation becomes inextricably linked with theirs, for better or for worse.

Anyone who’s ever done a day’s work in the advertising industry knows that the transaction itself hardly ever occurs in a vacuum.

It doesn’t really matter what type of advertising we’re talking about. All of these types of financial collaborations are client-provider relationships. Like any other relationship, it is based on trust, mutual alignment, and intent. In this case, the intent of prospering together.

This relationship must be nurtured for it to benefit everyone involved. The obvious implication is that a media outlet that takes money from big business will be loathe to bite the hand that feeds it. There is nothing accusatory or inflammatory here: I am simply following the cold, hard logic of money.

Of course, some editors at these media houses will go out of their way to justify it, even if we’re talking about operators who are known to conduct their business in a highly questionable manner. One glaring example was highlighted in one of our recent investigations about Exante.

Sanctioned Russian-Maltese firm with deep government ties to hold major compliance conference（https://cap.mt/2025/05/09/sanctioned-russian-maltese-firm-with-deep-government-ties-to-hold-major-compliance-conference/）

Times of Malta loves to use the tired old excuse（https://cap.mt/2025/05/09/sanctioned-russian-maltese-firm-with-deep-government-ties-to-hold-major-compliance-conference/） that editorial is separate from the commercial arm of the company.

To be fair, it is evident that the company’s commercial arm is actually investing in higher quality content. It is a well-staffed newsroom that comfortably retains its position as the country’s dominant media outlet.

Which begs the question: why is the Times desperate enough to partner with the likes of SiGMA, known to most of the island as the gaming industry’s poster child for industry networking and traffic nightmares? Why is a 90 year old newsroom unable to sustain itself without selling front-page banner ads to a sanctioned Russian-Maltese firm?

I’d ask those questions to the fabled commercial arm of the company, but since they’ve refused to answer literally every question I’ve ever asked them, I won’t bother.

Judging from the open mockery that almost always animates the comments sections of these kinds of sponsored posts, whatever revenue is generated from them must surely be outweighed by the loss of credibility that comes about as a result.

As for Lovin Malta, well – as far as I know, their shriveled newsroom doesn’t even have a chief editor to speak of, in spite of the fact that they’ve been looking for one since at least June of this year.

To be sure, I reached out to directly to their director and co-owner, David Grech, to verify whether this is the case. I also asked them to confirm how many journalists are actually working in that newsroom.

No reply or acknowledgement was sent by publication time.

A screenshot of Lovin Malta’s vacancy from 4 June.

Everybody knows that db Group（https://cap.mt/2024/04/12/by-hook-or-by-crook/） holds excessive influence over Maltese politics.

The towers they are building in Pembroke are like two giant middle fingers to the rest of the country, and practically nobody in either major party would dare oppose them openly without fear or favour. The sponsored post about db’s project had 371 comments in two days by publication time, and none of them were expressing excitement about this “bold new destination.”