It is simply appalling to see your country take one hit after another on the international scene.
Yesterday at noon, as my plane landed at Luqa airport and I switched on my smart phone, the first news alert I received was that Malta plummeted in the press freedom index.
According to Reporters Without Borders press freedom in Malta is in a “problematic” state. It is incredible that in just 12 months Malta was knocked down 18 places, the sharpest drop among 180 countries.
I was returning from Strasbourg, home to the Council of Europe. Together with my colleagues from both sides of the house we attended committee meetings and plenary sessions. Over there Malta was on the agenda for all the wrong reasons. It was heart-wrenching to see the President of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe opening the session by reasserting the Chamber’s resolve to fight corruption and seek justice in the case of slain journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia.
This parliamentary assembly has had its fair share of controversy of corrupt practices by its Members of Parliament dealing with Azerbaijan in the framework of the same assembly. Cases of corruption at the highest places of government are certainly not endemic to Malta. You find it in many other countries, usually in some more than in others.
However, this does not mean that we ought to look the other way when glaring, in-your-face allegations of corruption crop up. Why should we accept this state of affairs? In the case of Malta it’s not just corruption and impunity for certain people, it is also the brutal murder of a journalist who tried her best to uncover corruption. Her murder thrust corruption to an international level.
During that short moment, as I was waiting for my luggage, a discussion at one of the committees on the protection of journalists came to mind where Daphne's name, together with that of the slain Slovak journalist, was mentioned constantly. It is abundantly clear that Europe is watching and it is genuinely concerned. The committee took a vote on the appointment of a rapporteur on a case dealing with issues surrounding the assassination of Daphne. I am not a Member of this Committee and couldn’t participate in this vote.
What do we make of this? Well, fight back basically. We will continue our fight for justice but we also ought to fight back for journalistic freedoms, stronger democracy and good governance.
I am not a journalist and I’ve never been but my past role as press advisor did bring me in constant contact with journalists. I know that they risk life and limb not just for a good story but also for the good of the community.
So when the Education Minister Evarist Bartolo suggested that the Daphne Project, (consortium of 40 ‘foreign’ journalists) hate Labour in government, I was taken aback by his reply. Minister Bartolo was the one who introduced me to journalism in my undergrad at the University of Malta and there he was attacking investigative journalists in front of other investigative journalists, presumably who were also his former students like I am.
Why would you attack journalists Minister Bartolo? Isn’t it their job and mine (as an MP) to hold you and your colleague Ministers to account? Your comment is simply not on, especially when it was you who first imparted to us the values of a free society and the benefits of the fifth estate as you used to call journalism.
When journalists chased other Ministers on the same day and on the same subject, those Ministers just stuck to the official Labour Party reply. Theirs was a decent reply. Yours was unwarranted because you’re implying that those who hold you to account are not worthy of being Maltese. You’re giving fuel to the narrative that those who fight for freedom of expression and good governance are ‘traitors’ of Malta. For me this is simply unacceptable.
We ought to treat journalists with the dignity they deserve because theirs is much too often a thankless job and yet hugely beneficial to our societies.
MP David Stellini is the Opposition Spokesperson on European Affairs and Brexit. He is also President of the Nationalist Party Administrative Council.