RSF: ‘Why would major media join forces with the party outlets?’

“We don’t understand why major media would join forces with the party outlets and exclude the independent media”, the international media freedom NGO said in a statement to NEWZ.

Allied Newspapers, MediaToday and Standard Publications announced last week they had formed a ‘lobby group’ together with the Nationalist Party and the governing Labour Party.

RSF said that independence from any political influence “is a prerequisite of ‘quality journalism’ which the Media Owners Association declares to want to advance”.

“Press freedom in Malta is held back, among others, by the systemic problems of partisan influence in the media sector and marginalisation of the independent media”, Pavol Szalai, head of RSF’s EU-Balkans desk, said.

Just a week ago, as Malta took OSCE chairpersonship, RSF urged the Maltese government to “lead by example by redoubling efforts to address much-needed press freedom reforms in the country, including ensuring full justice for Daphne Caruana Galzia without further delay”.

Reporters Without Borders have urged all media outlets in Malta to be “part of the solution and not continue to fuel the divisions”.

The NGO said such divisions would only weaken the climate of press freedom in the country and leave individual journalists at risk.

“We call on the government of Malta to systematically consult decisions impacting media and press freedom with all relevant stakeholders including the independent media which are not part of the new Media Owners Association”, it said.

NEWZ also requested statements from the Institute of Maltese Journalists, the European Federation of Journalists and the International Federations of Journalists. Those requests remained unanswered at the time of publication.