This week, for the very first time, the European Parliament awarded the Daphne Caruana Galizia Prize for Journalism, an award for which the deciding committee received applications from almost all the EU’s member states.

It is at once a poignant moment and one of pride.

Poignant, because this week marks four years since the darkest day in Maltese political history this side of the millennium. By no means may we relegate October 16, 2017 to the history books just yet. The shockwaves of that fateful explosion still resonate among the Maltese and across Europe. We are not out of woods in addressing the fallout of the murder of Caruana Galizia.

Just as she shouldn’t have been killed, equally so she should not have been made to face decades of misogyny, violence, threats and abuse, often from inept loafers on the public payroll. The loudness of the explosion seems to mute the long, bitter campaign against her person. In what European democracy would journalists be plastered onto billboards in attempts to publicly shame and silence them?

Following the public inquiry, Labour Party proponents mounted a flimsy volte-face. In the immediate aftermath of the assassination, their line was that murder is never justified; but who on earth suggested it was? Now we are made to listen to a tired chorus about functioning institutions.

The unblemished truth is that had the institutions functioned, Daphne would still be living, breathing and writing today.

But we have not heard this from the mouth of the prime minister. Instead, from Castille gushed an intolerable cascade of disinformation and half-hearted attempts to close off “the Daphne saga”. For years, conspiracy theories about her assassination were peddled from the office of the prime minister. Daphne’s humanity and credentials were posthumously questioned.

The Daphne Caruana Galizia Prize for Journalism is a moment of pride because it is an unequivocal assertion against the swamp of propaganda pumped out by the Labour Party. In Malta, those we have had to endure in the political fight for truth and justice may find some comfort in the fact that they have the largest supranational legislative body on their side.

It is a clear signal that survives the lies and manipulation surrounding Daphne’s murder of an imbalanced media landscape in Malta.

We cannot afford to remain complacent about the danger European journalism finds itself in- David Casa

Unlike the pathetic discombobulation of the Labour government, the European Parliament has strongly pronounced itself in favour of European values, on which the EU is predicated, and in favour of attaining full justice for the murder of Daphne. 

The Prize sends a message around the EU and Europe more broadly that, no matter where or who you are, Europe stands for your right to public interest reporting, whether you are a freelance journalist or an established reporter, your right to investigate and publish is an inalienable fundamental right that is prized by the European Union.

It should be a warning to those corrupt officials, businesspeople and criminals who plan to stifle those scrutinising them for our benefit: the European Parliament will not tolerate impunity or sustained harassment of its journalists.

The Council of Europe has also been clear: “Impunity has deadly consequences by signalling that the perpetrators of serious crimes can escape unpunished.”

That the Journalism Prize is named after Daphne is notable. As a woman who faced scathing misogyny all her life, it is a reminder that female journalists are at most risk. From Anna Politkovskaya to Kim Wall, from Victoria Marinova to Lyra McKee, women in journalism face a double threat, which is doubly unacceptable in a modern Europe.

Journalists should not face exacerbated threats by virtue of being women. But evidence from Europe suggest they do.

Coupled with the threat of editorial and financial independence, especially after the pandemic imperilled crucial public service media funding around Europe, we cannot afford to remain complacent about the danger European journalism finds itself in.

In the rest of Europe, funding cuts in some member states are coupled with a 40 per cent increase in threats to journalists between 2019 and 2020, with the greatest number being harassment and intimidation. Nobel Peace Prize laureate Maria Ressa adds to the recognition of this pressing global problem.

Only recently, with everything we know and been through, PBS was seen imposing more administrative harassment.

As co-chair of the European Parliament’s Media Working Group, I will carry on advocating for stronger regulation to back up journalists across the bloc. This means upholding more robust protections for their work, bolstering their independence from overreaching public bodies and shielding journalists from the threat of strategic lawsuits against public participation from powerful and deep-pocketed individuals and corporations that can afford legally unsound games of chicken against the fourth estate.

This is one of my chief priorities in the European Parliament. Having successfully realised the Daphne Caruana Galizia Prize for Journalism, as well as having her name immortalised in the Strasbourg seat of the European Parliament, our work won’t stop here. Her presence in the European institutions will serve as a source of her idiosyncratic courage and strength and a solemn reminder of the fragility of human life and our democratic freedom.

For this not to happen again, we must keep fighting.

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