Intimidation, pressure and harassment of the press both physically and through techniques that are more recent, such as trolling leading to hate speech and physiological abuse in their regard, is unacceptable, MEP Francis Zammit Dimech said.

Speaking during a Culture and Education Committee meeting at the European Parliament in Brussels which committee is responsible for media. He condemned recent indications with regard to Pilatus bank that media houses were being threatened with lawsuits in the US.

He said that the State had to be proactive in ensuring that journalists, especially investigative ones, were protected to conduct their work safely and should have unhindered access to information which was of interest to the public.

Last Friday MEP Zammit Dimech reconvened Maltese journalists and media houses to obtain their feedback on issues related to the media which he raised during the same meeting in the presence of rapporteur Curzio Maltese. The latter referred to the situation of emergency in some countries making direct reference to the assassination of Daphne Caruana Galizia in Malta stating that this actually reflects deteriorating circumstances.

Zammit Dimech also emphasised the need to improve working conditions of journalists and other media professionals with specific reference to freelances who often work in precarious conditions and on the need to invest more in their training and in providing them with opportunities to develop in their professional career. He also said that at times this work is not being exactly recognised for its professionalism.

He said this had an impact on their independence of action and thought and the way they can conduct their work properly. Zammit Dimech who is the EPP Group Rapporteur on the report on Media pluralism and media freedom in the European Union also emphasised the need to provide more support to print journalism in the context of challenges faced due to digital media to ensure pluralism and on the need to invest more in media literacy especially in the wake of the rise in fake news.

Earlier this week Zammit Dimech was also a special guest on TV channel France 24 during the talking show “Talking Europe” to debate press freedom during which programme he emphasised that it was surreal that those who did not protect Daphne Caruana Galizia when she was still alive were now claiming that they want to do her justice in her death. He said that regretfully the fifth Police Commissioner in four years who was leading the investigation on Daphne's murder, did not inspire the required level of trust.