TVM viewers reported feeling “confused and angry” last night, after watching a relatively civil and mature discussion about abortion.
Abortion was the subject of last night episode’s of L-Erbgħa Fost Il-Ġimgħa, a new show hosted by former Xarabank presenter Mark Lawrence Zammit. Zammit moderated a back-and-forth between Dr Konrad Borg and Dr Nicola Micallef Stafrace from the anti-choice group Doctors For Life, and obstetrician Professor Isabel Stabile and human rights lawyer Lara Dimitrijevic from the pro-choice camp.
Bis-Serjetà reached out to regular TVM viewers to gauge their reactions.
“I’m not exactly sure what I just watched. Where were the religious nutcases yelling ‘Amen’? Where were the politicians with no expertise in the area? All I saw were qualified people giving their reasoned views, and three out of four of them were women! It was very confusing and upsetting.”
“The minimal amount of talking over each other and the overall cordiality of the debate really disturbed me.”
“Thank God the anti-abortion people kept willfully misunderstanding the pro-choice pair’s arguments and appealing to emotion, and Lara Dimitrijevic refused to acknowledge that abortion is a form of killing, otherwise I would’ve felt like I was living in a completely different reality.”
“I came away from the show having learned something, and that’s not why I watch Maltese television. I’ve already written to the Broadcasting Authority to complain.”
Zammit has since apologised for the show’s lack of stupidity and has promised to dumb it down again next week.
