The PN has proposed a parliamentary committee to consult and make recommendations on the state of journalism and freedom of expression.

The Nationalist Party filed a parliamentary motion to establish the committee on Monday morning, the sixth anniversary of journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia's murder. 

PN leader Bernard Grech called on Prime Minister Robert Abela to discuss and adopt the motion on the same day during Monday evening's parliamentary sitting.  

Grech said that the party had filed the motion because of government inaction in implementing media reform following the recommendations of a public inquiry into the assassination Caruana Galizia.

"The government has been dragging its feet for over two years and still has no plan on how to do it," Grech said.

On October 2, the prime minister said the government will issue a white paper with proposed media reform laws. But Grech said that the government has not published anything after two weeks. 

The parliamentary committee would investigate the current state of journalism in Malta and facilitate a "broad" consultation on what should change. 

The committee will then present its recommendations to parliament, Grech said. 

"The committee's work should conclude three months after the white paper is published," Grech said. 

The speaker of the house should chair the committee, which will include three members from the government and three from the opposition.

Grech said MPs Karol Aquilina, Claudette Buttigieg and Graham Bencini would be the opposition's three members. 

Grech was speaking exactly six years after investigative journalist Daphne Caruana Galiza was blown up in her car just outside her Bidnija home on October 16 2017. 

"Journalists are a friend to democracy and the truth," Grech said. "They not only announce the news, but they also reveal it," he said.

The public inquiry made a series of recommendations, including on the media and the right to information. It suggested:

• The introduction of a legal framework to protect journalists and ensure the profession is self-regulated.
• Ensuring government advertising in the media is distributed fairly.
• A reform of the freedom of information act to limit the culture of confidentiality and secrecy under the pretext of privacy and commercial sensitivity.
• Amendments to constitutional provisions establishing the Broadcasting Authority, with the board noting that the public broadcaster failed in its duty to impartial reporting when it did not adequately report on serious allegations of corruption.
• A code of ethics for journalists.