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Hon. Ms Dolores Cristina
Malta: Minister of Culture plans a change in the Maltasong Board
"I will draft a set of proposals and will hand them directly to the Minister. The proposals will also include a request for more funds. I have a good experience in how things are done at the Eurovision Song Contest. I am not ready to fight a lost battle ('naghzaq fix-xejn') again. To say the truth, I have had enough of this, however I do not shy away infront of challenges. If I get what I will ask for, I might stay to take the challenge. Our aim is to do well and get a better result," stated Mr Robert Abela with PBS News.
On the other hand, the Hon. Ms Dolores Cristina, Minister of Culture and Education replied, "I do not feel that funds will make any difference. There were countries who had no promotion at all and still managed to make it through. One needs to re-examine the operations of this Maltasong board. There are some people who have been there too long. There might be people out there who are willing to serve on this board. We need to get the grip of achieving good results for Malta again."
The Eurovision Song Contest and other music-related matters will be discussed this week on "DISSETT" - a talk show produced by PBS News.
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Government decides not to reconstitute MaltaSong board
The MaltaSong Board will not be reconstituted and its responsibilities have been transferred to PBS, the government said this afternoon.
MaltaSong was responsible for the organisation of the Song for Europe contest and Malta's participation in the Eurovision Song Contest. Its term is about to expire.
The announcement was made at the same time as the government announced that Clare Thake Vassallo had been appointed chairman of PBS after having served on the board for a number of years.
The other members of the PBS board are Joe G.P. Bonello, Lara Tonna, Josef N. Grech and Isabelle Gatt. Their appointment, for a year, was made by Education and Culture Minister Dolores Cristina.
Dr Thake Vassallo is senior lecturer at the University’s Faculty of Arts and has specialised in the theory of communication.
She was first appointed to the PBS board in 2000 and in 2005 was in charge of the restructuring of children’s programmes.
The PBS board at its first meeting will discuss the creation of a structure within PBS to assume the functions of the MaltaSong board.
It is common practice in many European countries for the selection of their representative to the Eurovision Song Contest to be made through a contest organized by the national broadcaster.
I think I will join the choir of those who are supporting Malta and would like Chiara to represent her on eurovision.
She's got a lovely voice and with another good song like Anger she could do really well despite the neighbourly voting and stuff.
After all, do we want eurovision to be held in a cold city as Moscow or do we prefer it to be on a warm and nice island on the Med? 
Jonny K:
Yeah. It's a shame they don't perform together any more.
Stockholm calling:
heheh "blush"!!!! 
Julie and Ludwig had one of the most cheesy songs ever at eurovision, but we had to love them for it!!
Jonny K:
I admit that I liked Julie and Ludwig (blush).
Easily Nor:
Exactly!!!! They dropped the bubblegum and started singing about vertigo and a russian beverage, what is happening in Malta!!?????
Does anybody else here miss the good old cheesy euro-pop we used to get from Malta??!
Agree with Jonny K. Malta has lost the bubblegum.
remove robert..and bring chaira again to represnt us.
Bring back Chiara!!!!!!
What I am beggining to miss about the Maltese entries is that they just ain't cheesy anymore!! As far as I can remember Malta have always sent great, cheesy, fun songs, but as of 2007 that has stopped. Malta, bring back the cheese!!
The song this year was so embarrassing.. so obviously an attempt to poach votes in vodka-swilling countries!...
No wonder they didn't get very far! Maybe the new chief should contact Timbaland ;-)
I think Malta so deserve to win. Their song wasnt brilliant this year but it was a damn sight better than our one ( UK ).
Bring back Chiara and maybe she will back it third time lucky.
Malta make so much effort to win both in the song and in the performance.
Good Luck Malta you are great!!!!!
I doubt whether Julie and Ludwig will come to Eurovision again.. They don't sing together anymore.. As much as I love Ira's style these days I don't think she will consider Eurovision right now... I say we need Chiara... she should take Kirkorov's offer
Bring back Chiara!!! Thats the solution Or Ira Losco, although I doubt Ira would do eurovision again . . . . . . . or if you're feeling really cheesy, why not bring back Julie and Ludwig!!!
The problem isn't the chairman of the board. The problem is the song. "I do", "Vertigo" and "Vodka" were plain simple bad songs. And only Morena is a good singer. Fabrizio and Olivia were awful on stage. But as long as the Maltese are in denial, claiming they were so robbed, things won't possible change for Malta in the near future. Send a song, a song in the style people like to listen to. For example a song like Klinsmann had in this year's preselection.
MALTA SHOULD CHANGE COMMETTIE MR.ROBERT ABELA HAVE MADE A BIG HAT TRICK FIRST WITH FABRIZZIO ( I DO) OLIVIA (VERTIGO) AND THE LAST SONG vODKA WITH MORENA. ALL DESERVED SOMETHING MORE THAT THE RESULT SHOWN. WHY WHEN HE TOOKED THE LEAD OF CHARMEN ALL THESE DISAPPOINTMENTS WE WANT MR. ABELA TO EXPLAIN, AND NOT SAYING BECAUSE THE OTHER COUNTRYS DIDN'T VOTE US SOMETHING WRONG THERE IS ALL MALTESE ARE FAN OF EUROVISION AND WANT SOMEONE WHI IS CAPABLE TO GIVE US A BOOST TO BE MORE COMPETIBLE...... BYE BYE ROBERT ABELA YOU WERE IN THE ARENA IN THE SEMI FINAL ? YES OR NO
Damn it- here we go again. These people fighting and argueing all the time. Drop all this stupid promotion ideas, and get to what is really important..... WRITE A GOOD SONG !
Money was the problem? With two of the most expensive preview videos for two years in a row, i don't know what this mans idea of bigger funds is.
Is he implementing that Malta should buy its way through to the final like Russia. Well, i think that will need the whole GDP of the island.
Vodka was one of the cheapest songs in the contest and the history of maltese entries. I was disappointed it didnt end up last in the semi. Begging for votes with cheap lyrics gimmicks, it deserved nothing but the scorn of televoters.
I think Malta has to relax and try to enjoy the contest a bit more, rather that make desperate efforts to win some more points with ridiculous and sad entries.
Olivia was totally off-key from beginning to end, and the entire "Vodka" package was so loud and noisy... Malta needs to scrap the silly novelties and go for something fresh and authentic, that would do the trick.
I don't think it's deliberate...Malta has had success in the past with Chiara, I still listening to 'Angel'.
Malta's song this year was just too noisy...for my taste at least.
I don't think there's too much of a problem with the Maltese selection process. Morena did a fine job with a good song, but it was just a very tough semi-final. It's not that long ago that Malta came 2nd in en ESC that was very similar to today's (lots of voting blocks, lots of Eastern European countries); Chiara even got the douze from Russia! I think Malta should carry on as they are; there's every reason to think things will improve in Moscow (Chiara with a Kirkirov ballad, anyone...?)
well i really cant see there is a problem in the song choice, its the fact that people deliberately do not vote for malta
2007, olivia was robbed (she didnt deserve to end up 25th, she was amazing) and 2008 morena wasnt bad either
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