Journalism veteran of 40 years and former BBC chief news correspondent Kate Adie yesterday called the brutal murder of journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia an attack “on journalism itself, on all journalists”.
Adie is in Malta to address the EY attractiveness survey conference. She has had a long and successful career, making a name for herself through on-the-ground coverage of conflict and war-torn areas.
Asked for her initial reaction to the brutal murder of Caruana Galizia when she was blown to pieces on Monday 16 October, Adie said:
“First I am reminded of a memory of when I was again at a conference this time in Ukraine years ago, and I was invited to Moscow by a prominent investigative journalist named Galina Starovoytova. She said: ‘you must come and see what the real story is, I am trying to do it.’
“I said I will come, three days later she was found shot dead in the stairwell of her flat. I care passionately that journalism should be allowed to continue to do what it has always tried to do, speak truth to power. The powerful, those who wish to run peoples’ lives and ruin peoples’ lives must be exposed and brought to justice and when they indulge in that kind of act it is actually an attack on journalism itself, on all journalists whether you agree with them or disagree with them.
“Journalists must be free to speak freely, if they are not then the rest of the population will not be free to speak. It is terribly important for democracy. We used to say and still say that you cannot have a democracy without the pillar of journalism, it is one of the many pillars like representation of the people. To try and stifle it, to make people fearful and to stop them doing their work is truly terrible.”
In view of Malta’s status as an EU member state, Adie was asked whether the attack could be viewed as an attack on all EU member states:
“I do not see it as a precise attack, but it is an attack on the values we had all hoped to attain within the EU. We try to have higher standards, in some countries there are more problems such as the right-wing movements in Hungary and Poland – that is contrary to the standards of immigration in the EU. When it comes to freedom of the press there are some problems in EU countries, we want to bring those up not take them down. One can only hope that other members in the EU who believe in improving standards and transparency, they would also try to help in what is needed here.”
Adie’s big break came in 1982 during the siege of the London Iranian Embassy. As that evening’s BBC duty reporter, Adie was first on the scene as the Special Air Service stormed the embassy. The BBC interrupted coverage of the World Snooker Championships and Adie reported live and unscripted to one of the largest news audiences ever whilst crouched behind a car door.