Prime Minister Robert Abela will be meeting the Institute of Maltese Journalists (IĠM) after its members called for legislation on media protection to be open for consultation.
Abela will meet with IĠM president Matthew Xuereb and general secretary Kurt Sansone on Thursday.
The meeting, announced by Xuereb on Wednesday, comes after the IĠM expressed disappointment that its most salient recommendations for the reform had been ignored or seriously watered down in the bills presented by the government.
Xuereb was making introductory remarks during a consultation meeting with Nationalist Party leader Bernard Grech and other PN MPs.
The meeting is part of the party's public consultation on the media reform process.
IĠM members of met with Nationalist Party leader Bernard Grech and other MPs to discuss the proposed media reform. Photo: Giulia Magri“The Prime Minister wrote to us this afternoon inviting us for a meeting to discuss our requests at Castille tomorrow," Xuereb said.
"From the very beginning, our position has been that we can come up with better laws for the protection of journalists through proper consultation."
In a letter to Abela on Monday, the IĠM warned it will pull out of the media reform process unless legislation on media protection is opened for consultation.
The committee said a final decision would be taken on Thursday.
The letter highlighted how IĠM members and others involved in the media sector viewed the government's proposals as not offering the best possible protection to journalists and failing to create the necessary enabling environment, five years after the assassination of Daphne Caruana Galizia.
Xuereb and Sansone called for the bills to be withdrawn, turned into a White Paper and formally opened up for the widest possible consultation with specified milestones.
On Tuesday, Abela defended the process that had led to the reform saying that, until recently, the government was being criticised for not doing enough to implement the necessary reforms.
Last month, Justice Minister Jonathan Attard unveiled three Bills dealing with the issue after receiving feedback from a government-appointed committee to analyse the state of journalism in Malta.
Addressing journalists at the beginning of the meeting on Wednesday, Grech said it is not acceptable that such an important law is being presented in Parliament without any form of consultation.
He said the party will do all it can to ensure that the necessary consultation and discussions take place.