The Institute of Maltese Journalists (IGM) has warned the government that it will pull out of the media reform process unless legislation on media protection is opened for consultation.
In a letter to Prime Minister Robert Abela on Monday, the IĠM representatives on the government-appointed Committee of Experts said the proposed legal amendments were not bold enough and fell short of what could have been achieved for the protection of journalists and freedom of expression, five years after the assassination of Daphne Caruana Galizia.
IĠM president Matthew Xuereb and general secretary Kurt Sansone said they were disappointed that the most salient recommendations made by the committee were ignored or seriously watered down in the bills presented by the government.
Among these were the constitutional entrenchment of the media and journalism as the Fourth Pillar of democracy, and the proposed anti-SLAPP legislation.
They said their members and others involved in the media sector viewed the proposals made by the government as not offering the best possible protection to journalists and fail to create the necessary enabling environment.
“Given that the Maltese government wants to be among the first EU member states to enact anti-SLAPP legislation, it should be setting a gold standard, free of ambiguity and providing a strong framework of protection. This is why we truly need an open consultation process,” they said in their letter.
“Government has a clear electoral mandate to recognise the media as the Fourth Pillar of democracy and we believe that this mandate should be fulfilled in the best way possible by having robust legislation that is agreeable to the very sector it is intended to protect,” they added.
Xuereb and Sansone called for the bills to be withdrawn, turned into a White Paper and formally opened up for the widest possible consultation with specified milestones.
“We are sure that consultation could lead to better laws, which will provide the necessary framework to protect journalists and create an enabling environment for freedom of expression to thrive.”
They said that if the government failed to open meaningful consultation, they would have no option but to withdraw their participation from the Committee of Experts “as we cannot continue backing legislation, which is weak and does not achieve the best possible result.”
They said the final decision would be taken at another IGM council meeting on Thursday.
Xuereb and Sansone also shot down the government’s narrative that wide consultation had been carried out by the Committee of Experts prior to drawing up the feedback to the laws. They clarified that the committee did not carry out any active consultation, except for a legal opinion from a legal expert, also due to the tight deadline given for it to finish the first part of its remit.