The Justice Ministry will be presenting the report drawn up by a committee of media experts and the set of media reforms which the State has drafted as a result of the feedback this afternoon.
The bills will be presented in a press conference which starts at 2pm.
The laws are expected to include feedback from a government-appointed committee of media experts which was headed by retired judge Michael Mallia – who also headed the public inquiry into Daphne Caruana Galizia’s death.
However, MaltaToday reported that the proposed reforms are not expected to go to public consultation – a point which over 100 editors, journalists, and academics asked for in a letter to Prime Minister Robert Abela last week.
Daphne Caruana Galizia’s parents Michael and Rose Marie Vella meanwhile also issued a statement on Wednesday asking for the reform process to be transparent and open.
“It is disturbing that, despite the findings of the state-appointed public inquiry into the circumstances of our daughter Daphne’s assassination - the reason why reforms are crucial - the government has to be reminded that ‘every citizen has the right to participate in reforms which, supposedly, are aimed at protecting their fundamental rights’,” they said.
“Nothing will ever bring our daughter back, but Malta has an opportunity to redeem itself for its failure to protect her life by reversing the conditions that made her murder possible.”
“Reforms should be implemented transparently, preceded by a period of public consultation that should not be rushed for the sake of political expediency. Our daughter - and our country - deserve no less,” they added.
The committee which provided feedback on the government’s proposals was headed by Mallia and then included two representatives from the Institute of Maltese Journalists Matthew Xuereb (Assistant Editor at Times of Malta) and Kurt Sansone (Online editor at MaltaToday), along with former Malta Independent Editor-in-Chief Neil Camilleri, MediaToday owner Saviour Balzan, lawyer Kevin Dingli and academics Prof. Carmen Sammut and Prof. Saviour Formosa.
They were tasked with looking into a number of proposals which looked at aspects such as anti-SLAPP legislation, amendments to the Criminal Code and the Media and Defamation Act, and amendments to the Constitution amongst others.
However the committee has been on the receiving end of criticism for their lack of transparency with members of the media community about the reforms and the feedback process.