No true freedom without media freedom – Roberta Metsola
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Freedom of speech cannot be taken for granted, European Parliament President Roberta Metsola told a Media Freedom Seminar in Strasbourg. “The reality is that this cannot be further away from the truth”, she explained, adding that without freedom of media there can be no true freedom.
The EP President called for stronger European systems to support journalists in doing their work. “For years, the European Parliament has had the protection of media freedom at the top of its agenda, calling for new rules to protect journalists from being silenced” she explained.
She recalled how assassinated Maltese journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia had once said that threats made against her do not affect her work “but definitely affect other people”. Metsola added that we only need to look around us to understand how this is true.
The EP President added that the European Parliament is working on the new Media Freedom Act that will allow journalists to do their work without having to fear financial or emotional ruin – or even worse – for their lives. “This Act – the Daphne Law – as we like to call it, has also understood that the new digital environment has exacerbated the problem of the spread of disinformation. To counter this, we need a common strategy to face foreign interference and disinformation campaigns while also giving more support to independent media, fact checkers and researchers”, Metsola explained.
The seminar was also addressed by Matthew Caruana Galizia, son of the slain journalist.
“EU member states must not be allowed to get away with impunity with regards to high level cases of corruption”, he argued, insisting that “it cannot be that after a mountain of evidence nothing is done about it”.
Caruana Galizia referred to the recent sentencing of the Degiorgio brothers in connection with the assassination of his mother, describing it as “bare minimum”. He recalled how even anti-democratic Russia had incarcerated the hitmen responsible for the assassination of Anna Politikovskaya.
Caruana Galizia highlighted that Maltese authorities had not yet prosecuted anyone in connection with the cases investigated by his mother.
