The assassination of journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia remains a “stark reminder” to strengthen journalism, the foreign minister told an OSCE event on Thursday.

Addressing an event on media freedom, Foreign Minister Ian Borg called journalism a “vital pillar of democracy” while warning it was under threat across the region.

"My country knows all too well that the threats to media freedom and the safety of journalists are among the greatest threats to democracy,” he said.

Calling the assassination of Caruana Galizia “a stark reminder of the urgent need to strengthen this fourth pillar of democracy”, Borg warned of the risks posed by a changing media landscape.

“The space for free and independent media is shrinking, and so is access to public interest information. This calls for strong collective effort to protect the independent media.”

The minister may face some pushback from media representatives in Malta, with the government having faced criticism for being slow to act on promised media reforms.

Turning to social media, which Borg said had become the main source of news for many - in particular young people - he warned the code serving user content on such platforms was “profit-driven, often amplifying content that fuels polarisation and distrust”.

Highlighting the work of the OSCE in this regard, Borg said Malta had “benefited from the expertise and support" of the organisation.

Institute of Maltese Journalists (IĠM) General Secretary Nicole Meilak, a panellist at the event, warned against discussions pushing for requirements for journalists to obtain a warrant.

“We don’t regulate who can become a politician, so we shouldn’t regulate who can be a journalist,” she said.

Meanwhile, Daphne Caruana Galizia Foundation COO Tina Urso identified issues with access to information in Malta – noting some freedom of information requests had been outstanding for over two years.

OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media director Philippe Tremblay spoke of the organisation’s efforts to make sure journalists were fairly compensated for their work when it was scraped by AI, while Forum on Information and Democracy executive director Camille Grenier stressed the media was “more than news” and that he wanted to see it grow from aiming to be resilient to be "thriving”.

Looking further afield, Borg noted that “while Malta works on reforms at home, as chair of the organisation, we cannot ignore journalists across many parts of the OSCA... journalists on the front lines in Ukraine face extreme safety risks”.

Ukraine also featured in an earlier side event about gender and security, during which Borg praised Malta's femicde law.

Heela Yoon, from Afghanistan, also warned of violence against women in other areas of the world. Photo: Jonathan Borg.

Ukrainian Deputy Foreign Minister Betsa Mariana said sexual violence, ill-treatment and coercion were being widely used as weapons of war by Russian soldiers in Ukraine, with “grievous violations of international humanitarian law” being carried out on an “industrial scale”.

Mariana explained that gender equality had become particularly relevant in the armed forces since the invasion, noting there were now around 60,000 women now serving in the Ukrainian military.

Meanwhile, Panellist Heela Yoon, founder of the Afghan Youth Ambassadors for Peace Organisation, reinforced the plight of Ukrainian women while adding such issues were also affecting women in Sudan and Palestine.

She called on OSCE members to create more scholarships and increase funding for women affected by conflict and create safe pathways for women fleeing conflict zones.