Proposals for media reform published by the Maltese government should be put up for public consultation to ensure transparency, Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights Dunja Mijatović has said. 

In a statement published on Thursday, Mijatović said that Maltese authorities should ensure that legislative changes enacted following the public inquiry into the assassination of Daphne Caruana Galizia are “fully open to public scrutiny and participation”. 

Mijatović also published a letter she sent to Prime Minister Robert Abela in September, in which she urged the government to step up efforts to bring all those involved in the Caruana Galizia assassination to justice, and asked what steps the state had taken to address issues highlighted in a CoE report published last February. 

“The recent publication by the government of its legislative proposals concerning the media sector and certain restrictions on the use of SLAPPs is a step in the right direction,” she said. 

'Crucial to secure a broad public consultation'

“It is now crucial to secure a broad public consultation to include the views of civil society and of the journalism community in this legislative process. The Maltese authorities should seize this opportunity to adopt comprehensive legislation affording extensive protection to journalists.” 

Last week the government presented its plans for media reform, which included enshrining protections for journalists in the constitution as well as a number of anti-SLAPP laws. 

There have been several calls by civil society as well as the Opposition to open up the proposed reform to public consultation ahead of it being put to parliament. 

Mijatović’s letter also expresses concerns about the difficulties that journalists face in accessing information and the use of SLAPP by state agencies in response to freedom of information requests.

It also calls on the governments to set out a tangible plan and timelines in which it expects to implement all the public inquiry recommendations and communicate this to the public. 

A reply from Abela dated October 4 was also published, with the Prime Minister outlining the work undertaken since the publication of the inquiry report that led to the media reform proposals published by the government last week. 

Assuring Mijatović that the government attached “the utmost importance” to hold the people who commissioned Caruana Galizia’s murder responsible for their actions, Abela pointed out that the first conviction related to the murder happened last year, while the alleged mastermind and two other people have already been indicted in court. 

Following the conclusion of the compilation of evidence, the Criminal Court has received the alleged mastermind’s preliminary plea and a judgement is scheduled for December 9 this year, Abela said. 

'Journalism is still dicredited' 

Following a trip to Malta in October 2021, Mijatović had called on Malta to decriminalise abortion and heavily criticised what she called the “harassment” of journalists locally. 

“Rather than being recognised as a pillar of democracy, journalism is still discredited, and journalists continue to face harassment and obstacles in their work,” the report had said. 

"Investigative journalists, in particular, are dismissed as ‘hate figures’ and are regularly targeted by retaliatory hate speech, threats and lawsuits. Moreover, their allegations are not taken seriously and often go uninvestigated by the authorities.”