President Marie Louise Coleiro Preca yesterday spoke about the responsibilities of the media in promoting peace and well-being, highlighting the initiative taken by three independent newspapers on migration issues taken on Wednesday.

Times of Malta, The Malta Independent and Malta Today on Wednesday ran a common leader calling upon the government to review its policies on Temporary Humanitarian Protection.

Speaking at a public lecture entitled ‘Extremism and the Media’: a lecture organised by the President’s Foundation for the Wellbeing of Society, President Coleiro Preca focused on the need for the media to become a powerful voice for peace, and to help promote the creation of a culture of peace.

The President said that the way information is disseminated, interpreted, and presented, has a significant impact on the way people talk about the events and situations unfolding around us, adding that “many a time, perceptions are changed through the influence of the media”. This, President Coleiro Preca said, places a tremendous responsibility upon those who communicate information.

“It is so essential that information is transmitted in respectful ways. The media can be effective catalysts to encourage a harmonious environment in which our communities can thrive,” the President said.

Apart from being an essential factor for a vibrant media, freedom of expression is a fundamental human right, and a founding value for truly transparent and inclusive democracies, and it should be a celebration of cultural and social diversity.

This is how President Coleiro Preca described freedom of expression, whilst adding that “it honours the individuality of our lives, while at the same time, it should provide a medium through which humanity can connect and engage with one another, in respectful ways”.

The President said that social tensions are created and people become easier to manipulate, when our societies lack diversity and mutually-respectful sources of information.

“Humanity becomes defenceless, against the voices of extremists, who offer deceptive promises of stability and truth, and in the process, are reinforcing the prejudices and discrimination, which our societies once hoped, would be a thing of the past,” Coleiro Preca said, whilst emphasizing that in such circumstances even the most seemingly-developed and advanced nations are at risk, when they fail to hear the enriching diversity of voices which constitute a healthy democracy.

The President, whilst quoting the United Nations Millennium Declaration said that even though we are consumers of media, people are becoming collaborators in the transmission of information, through digital platforms. Here, the President stressed that the correct use of digital media is essential.

“I believe that we all have a role to play to challenge the threat of hate-speech”, the President said.

President Coleiro Preca said that this can be done by creating environments of equilibrium and balance, within our communities and societies and that in times of uncertainty, it is crucially important that we find the right balance to prevent the harm that can be caused by unrestricted speech, while also honouring freedom of expression.

President Coleiro Preca said that she is convinced that the full participation of our media can foster a positive peace approach “which will not only diminish the threat of violence, but also will promote a culture of solidarity, peace and wellbeing”.

Here, President Coleiro Preca commended the strong and historical example which was shown in the Wednesday editions of The Times of Malta, The Malta Independent and Malta Today, when these three newspapers got together to share one powerful message of peace.

“We should be encouraged by this example, of three major and independent English-language newspapers in Malta, to continue promoting conflict-sensitive and peace-oriented approaches through the media,” the President said.

The President said that peace is the objective, but also the process by which we must transform ourselves, our communities, and our societies, and stated that by making the choices to live with dignity and in solidarity with each other, we shall truly build a united culture of peace, of benefit to both present and future generations.

Finally, President Coleiro Preca urged those present to use, and not abuse, the democratic freedom of expression in their lives, and to be catalysts within their communities for the promotion of peace.