If you ask two people how much has happened since Daphne Caruana Galizia was murdered, one could tell you that huge political shifts have taken place just as easily as the other can say that everything has remained the same.
To uphold the latter view alone is to deny the progress made toward achieving justice for Daphne and for strengthening Malta’s democracy after the tumultuous reign of Joseph Muscat and the criminality that he enabled. Malta is still struggling to overcome the damage and it will continue doing so for the time being. It’s why Robert Abela was floundering about with the Americans, trying (and failing) to exchange Maltese sovereignty for its economy.
How did we get here? Under Muscat, Malta compromised its institutions, its values and its own identity in the name of economic ‘progress’. Will it be our sovereignty that will get sacrificed for the economy under Abela?
It is frustrating enough to see the damage done thanks to sheer, backward-minded corruption. Some of us take not more than an ounce of comfort to read that the revelations leading to arrests and resignations vindicate Daphne and the reporting for which she gave her life. They comfort us because we know the sacrifices made over the last three years have not been in vain.
But the scathing truth offers a tougher pill to swallow: that Daphne was murdered needlessly. Had the institutions done their work years ago, when she started reporting on the crime and corruption that riddled the Muscat administration, the murderous crooks that moved to assassinate her wouldn’t have thought that shooting (rather, blowing up) the messenger would have improved their situation in a 21st century European country.
Their evaluation was different, then. Thanks to their bedfellow Muscat, Malta had regressed into a corrupt backwater void of the rule of law and loyal only to a quick buck. Journalists weren’t seen as a democratic bulwark but an inconvenience that could be bought or bullied into compliance or discredited altogether. When that didn’t work, there was the car bomb.
The resignation of Muscat, the trial of Yorgen Fenech, the arrest of Keith Schembri, the collapse of Nexia BT were not inevitable.
They are the result of selfless battles that were waged against an opponent with unlimited resources and unshackled by any values, be it love of country or democracy.
They are also the result of civil society’s energy and, more importantly, Daphne’s fearless journalism before any of us.
It’s about time we realised the value of journalism in Malta- David Casa
Had the institutions worked when Daphne was still alive, the murderers wouldn’t have had the chance to think about offing one of us and Malta would be a democratically, financially and morally richer place. Daphne would have still been with us.
It’s about time we realised the value of journalism in Malta. Europe has.
For Europe, Daphne will serve as a poignant reminder of the vital, frontline role journalists play in democracies; of how fragile democracies are when checks and balances start being undermined by the people we elect.
The European Parliament voted on two resolutions stressing this and called for the establishment of a prize for outstanding journalism to be named after Daphne. The idea was made public as early as November 2017 but, after being re-elected last year with a fresh mandate, I strived to make this a reality. As a quaestor, I promoted the establishment of the prize during meetings in the Bureau of the European Parliament and during meetings of the Working Party on Information and Communication Policy.
Thanks to the hard work done hand-in-hand with the EP president, vice-president and the administration of the European Parliament, the Daphne Caruana Galizia prize for outstanding journalism is set to become a reality, to coincide with the solemn anniversary to commemorate three years from her assassination.
This €20,000 prize is not an estimate of the value of journalism in the machinery of democracy. It should serve as a statement of appreciation for those who fight to uphold the fundamental values enshrined in the European Charter on a daily basis, sometimes at great personal risk. During our meetings to establish the prize, we agreed that the guiding principles should be to recognise professional, in-depth journalism that seeks to do justice to European ideals.
If the media should be independent, then so should the people choosing the prize’s recipients be. An independent, non-commercial advocacy organisation will guarantee that no government turns this prize into a Eurovision for journalists. Neither will this seek to reward commercial excellence in publishing. Recipients will be individuals or teams of journalists, rather than publishing houses or agencies, to ensure fair competition.
In many ways, the battles that Maltese society faced before October 17, 2017 are not over yet. But even if another corrupt administration tries to play down Daphne’s life and work, Europe won’t. The parliament named a press conference hall in Strasbourg after her and now the prize will continue to honour her legacy.
David Casa is a Nationalist MEP.