A media activist group, the Media Reform Initiative, has reiterated a call by journalists for effective public consultation on the media reform law proposed by the government, insisting it does not meet the minimum suggested by an expert group in the wake of the inquiry into the assassination of Daphne Caruana Galizia.
The group said in a statement that demand for public consultation was growing in Malta as well as among international organisations.
"These various demands for public consultation are the result of an understanding that no reform must be done without public consultation as well as that the reform being proposed by the government is full of defects and does not effectively protect journalists. These demands for public consultation also show that no one is believing government when it says that it has already carried out a public consultation," the group said.
Discussions during IGM’s consultation meeting
The group said that at a public meeting organised by the Institute of Maltese Journalists on Thursday evening, those present supported the demand for consultation that the IGM had repeatedly made.
It was apparent during the meeting that the government was ignoring the most important of the recommendations made by the Committee of Experts, which the government itself appointed following the Caruana Galizia inquiry report. Among those proposals was the recommendation that journalism be entrenched in the Constitution as a pillar of democracy in that chapter which gives people the right to claim their rights before a court.
No real protection from SLAPP suits
It was also apparent during the meeting that the government’s proposals to protect journalists and activists from SLAPP suits did not even meet the minimum standards required by the European Commission’s proposed directive on this subject. Experts of the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe had already twice warned the government that its proposals were problematic. The government also ignored those experts.
"This takes on an even more serious character when one considers that Malta is the European country with the highest per capita cases of abusive attacks through SLAPP suits, which attacks burden journalists further in their work."
The group said that if the IGM's calls for public consultation are ignored, the institute should no longer form part of the Committee of Experts as appointed by the government.
The Media Reform Initiative is made up of activists working for the reform of Malta’s media system. The members are Monique Agius, Therese Comodini Cachia, Fr Joe Borg, Emanuel Delia and Natalino Fenech.