The killing of renowned journalist and blogger Daphne Caruana Galizia has devastated many here in Malta but it also sent shock waves throughout the whole globe. Her assassination prompted editorials from internationally renowned newspapers from all the corners of the world.
News agencies and international media from all over the world are reporting how a journalist 'who exposed major corruption' was killed. This factor was common throughout all of the major newspapers reports, that Daphne Caruana Galizia, 'the one-woman WikiLeaks', had exposed jaw-dropping corruption cases.
UK based newspaper The Guardian is referring to Caruana Galizia as 'the Panama Papers Journalist' and how her most recent revelations pointed the finger at Malta’s prime minister, Joseph Muscat, and two of his closest aides, connecting offshore companies linked to the three men with the sale of Maltese passports and payments from the government of Azerbaijan. The Guardian also takes note of the fact that the journalist had received several threats and that she had filed a police report in this regard.
Italian newspaper L'Espresso ran a detailed report on how Caruana Galizia had recently exposed an offshore company which allegedly belongs to the Prime Minister's wife and that this company received money from Azerbaijan, a claim that the Muscat couple has vehemently denied. The report states that her death is 'tragic and troubling' as she had made revelations on how Malta was turning into a drug trafficking hub.
The story reached far more than the western world. The Daily Sabah Istanbul reported the incident saying that 'a journalist investigating corruption was killed in Malta.'
Caruana Galizia's death also reached the other side of the globe as even a Brazilian newspaper Terra reported her death.
CNN reported the event extensively, even by interviewing Prime Minister Joseph Muscat and former PN leader Simon Busuttil live. CNN mentions how Caruana Galizia was highlighted by politics website Politico as one of 28 individuals who would have a major impact on Europe in 2017 after her work in exposing corruption within Malta's political scene.
Fox focused on the fact the journalist had exposed Malta's ties to tax havens. Once again, her intrinsic involvement in the Panama Papers was mentioned in detail.
The Financial Times described the murder as 'an attack on freedom of speech at Europe's heart.' It mentions her relentless work to expose major corruption like in the case of the Panama Papers. But it also mentions her “tireless pursuit of small scale sleaze”.
“It was a direct assault at the heart of Europe, on the EU's founding values – freedom of expression and the rule of law,” the Financial Times adds. The newspaper does not hold back in condemning Prime Minister Joseph Muscat - “He must take responsibility for the climate in which the killing took place.”
The Malta Independent, which carried her columns twice a week on Thursdays and Sundays, has been inundated with requests from the international media to give interviews and comments about her murder.
Rai Uno, Sky Italia, Sky UK, the BBC, the Associated Press and CNN have all sought comments from The Malta Independent editors about the murdered journalists. These offices have also received requests for information from media in the US, New Zealand, Japan and several European countries.