Malta has remained 81st in the 2021 World Press Freedom Index, with Reporters Without Borders, who published the index saying that Malta’s press freedom climate “remained cause for serious concern.”
Malta has dropped from 47th in 2017 to 81st now in the rankings, with countries like Panama, Kosovo and Kyrgyzstan ranking immediately above.
Norway, Finland, Sweden, and Denmark were the top four countries, followed by Costa Rica, the Netherlands, Jamaica, New Zealand, and Portugal. Switzerland rounded off the top 10.
They focused on the “long road to justice” for Daphne Caruana Galizia which they said had finally seen progress in February 2021 with the arrest of more people in connection with the assassination.
“The public inquiry into Caruana Galizia’s assassination helped to reveal political interference, police cover-up and collusion with criminals. The efforts of newly installed Prime Minister Robert Abela to shut down the public inquiry before it had fulfilled its obligations were stalled by the Judges on the Board of Inquiry. More than 20 defamation lawsuits against Caruana Galizia continued posthumously, including suits brought by former politicians in government such as Joseph Muscat, who was forced to resign as Prime Minister in January 2020 after public protests brought the country to a standstill”, the report reads.
“Similar cases - which are examples of strategic lawsuits against public participation (SLAPPs) - were also used to pressure Daphne’s son Matthew Caruana Galizia and other journalists in Malta. A political system that continues to muzzle press freedom, discrimination in accessing information, and an inefficient judicial process has continued to present obstacles to public interest reporting as well as threats to journalists’ ability to do their job safely”, they said.
“Malta’s media climate remained deeply divided, and media ownership was dominated by the two major political parties, further stifling public debate in an environment where propaganda dominates the news. The situation was further compromised through the opaque and inequitable allocation of state funds to select independent media during the Covid-19 pandemic”, they added.
In a more general sense, the Index data reflect a dramatic deterioration in people's access to information and an increase in obstacles to news coverage. The coronavirus pandemic has been used as grounds to block journalists’ access to information sources and reporting in the field.
“Will this access be restored when the pandemic is over? The data shows that journalists are finding it increasingly hard to investigate and report sensitive stories, especially in Asia, the Middle East and Europe”, RSF noted.
The 2021 Edelman Trust barometer also revealed a “disturbing” level of public mistrust of journalists, with 59% of respondents in 28 countries saying that journalists deliberately try to mislead the public by reporting information they know to be false. In reality, journalistic pluralism and rigorous reporting serve to combat disinformation and “infodemics”, including false and misleading information.
“Journalism is the best vaccine against disinformation,” RSF secretary-general Christophe Deloire said.