The Committee to Protect Journalists and other press freedom organizations on Thursday called on Maltese Prime Minister Robert Abela to allow sufficient time for an open, transparent, and consultative review, including by international experts, of a draft media reform bill, due to be introduced to parliament in the coming weeks.
The bill’s introduction comes just weeks after businessman Yorgen Fenech was acquitted of involvement in the murder of investigative journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia on October 16, 2017. In the nine years since then, Malta has failed to deliver on effective media reforms.
“We recognise the public consultations the government held, which laid the groundwork for this bill. However, that initial consultation on the reform cannot substitute for a broader consultation on the bill’s actual text,” the groups said in a letter to Abela and Malta’s Minister for Justice, Research and Innovation Clifton Grima.
In October 2025, CPJ and partners made a submission to the ministry of justice, as part of national consultations, of detailed recommendations to strengthen media freedom and journalist safety.
The submission said “the implementation of such recommendations would be an appropriate and meaningful way to continue to mark the life and legacy of Daphne Caruana Galizia.”
Following years of opaqueness and poor communication, the Maltese authorities did not provide any effective response to this submission.
Read the full letter here.