From the Times to Debono Group: A Photograph of Malta’s Changing Media Landscape

This photograph says it all. The building that once belonged to the Times now carries the name of the Debono Group, the business associated with Toyota in Malta. This website was the first to report that the former Times building had been bought by the group. Today, the sign on its façade gives that change a visible presence.

For me, the photograph also symbolises a wider transformation in Malta’s media landscape.

Printed newspapers, including the Times, face new realities created by digital communication. Websites and social media have opened opportunities for individuals like myself to publish news, share information and offer interpretations directly to readers. Reaching an audience no longer requires ownership of a printing press or the resources of a large newspaper organisation.

The Times has consequently lost much of its former dominance. It can no longer exercise the same influence over which stories receive attention or how those stories are presented. Readers have alternatives, and independent websites can report stories and challenge narratives that established newspapers might once have expected to shape largely on their own.

Yet it would be a mistake to explain this change entirely through technology. In my opinion, editorial choices and management decisions also help explain the Times’ diminishing influence.

The digital revolution has changed the conditions in which newspapers operate, but it does not absolve those running them of responsibility for their decisions. How a newspaper reports events, which stories it prioritises and how it responds to criticism all affect its relationship with readers. In a media environment offering more choice, that relationship cannot be taken for granted.

This photograph does not, by itself, explain the reasons behind the sale. But to me, it captures the changing fortunes of an institution that once occupied a commanding position in Maltese public life.

The building has changed hands. The power to report and interpret events has also become more widely distributed. My view is that the Times’ former dominance will continue to weaken if it attributes its difficulties solely to digital competition without confronting the editorial and management decisions that have contributed to them.