Discussing Malta’s media landscape 2 years after…
KSU organized a panel discussion on the eve of the 2-year anniversary of the assassination of Daphne Caruana Galizia. The aim was to discuss how Malta’s media landscape has developed 2 years after the journalist’s death.
Notable journalist and writer, John Sweeney opened the event with a keynote speech, underpinning Caruana Galizia’s journalistic achievements leading up to her death.
The point of being a journalist is to tell stories that powerful people don’t want told
John Sweeney
Rebecca Vincent a director from Reporters without Borders, noted Malta’s decline of 30 places in the EU Press Freedom Index from 2 years ago. Albeit, Caruana Galizia’s death aggravated this decline, Vincent said that this was not the only reason. The reason a journalist could be assassinated was that there was already a problem in the system, she said.
Malta lacks freedom of speech
Looking at Malta in the present day, Vincent said there is no climate to allow for press freedom and that few journalists are actually embracing their duties.
Herman Grech, Chief Editor for The Times of Malta, pressed on the troubling state of the media in Malta. He noted Malta as one of the few countries where people trust politicians more than the media and attributed this to the importance given to bipartisan media here. What are our media sources, he asked, is it Facebook, is it these partisan online platforms?
“I wouldn’t like to work with someone who will threaten my freedom of speech,” said Tina Urso, a human rights activist. This statement echoed with the late journalist’s work. However, the panellists agreed that it is not being echoed much across Malta’s media landscape currently.
KSU President, William Farrugia closed off the discussion with a call for action:
I didn’t do a minute of silence because we live our whole life in silence. What we need now is to speak up.