VALLETTA (MALTA) (ITALPRESS/MNA) – Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly (PACE) rapporteur Baroness Shami Chakrabarti has welcomed Malta’s plans to advance long-awaited media reform legislation, while calling for meaningful public scrutiny before the bill is adopted.
Chakrabarti is preparing a report on Malta’s unfinished implementation of recommendations linked to the assassination of journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia.
In a statement, she said legislation protecting media freedom was essential to implementing recommendations arising from the public inquiry into Caruana Galizia’s assassination.
But she cautioned that simply introducing legislation would not be sufficient.
The rapporteur said the reforms must properly address the issues identified by the public inquiry and stressed the importance of transparency and engagement with stakeholders.
Chakrabarti also referred to the Venice Commission’s position that draft legislation should be made publicly available with enough time for meaningful consultation.
“Before the media legislation is adopted, it is essential for stakeholders to analyse the bill, comment upon it, and for their comments to be properly taken into account,” she said.
Her comments follow Justice Minister Clifton Grima’s announcement this week that the government expects to introduce its media reform bill “in the coming weeks”.
Grima said the legislation would be given a high priority in Parliament and that the government was putting the “final touches” to the bill following its latest consultation process.
The government published a White Paper on media reform last year, proposing safeguards against unfounded defamation proceedings that could impose disproportionate financial pressure on journalists.
The proposals also included changes to libel and defamation procedures.
Chakrabarti’s work is part of a PACE process examining the “unfinished implementation” of measures arising from the Caruana Galizia case.
The process followed a motion for a resolution tabled in July 2025.
– Photo Ipa Agency –
(ITALPRESS).
