Earlier today the Minister for Justice Jonathan Attard launched a public consultation campaign about its proposed press reforms. The bill is already in Parliament and in its second reading, and according to the comments the Minister gave during the press conference, he wants to add additional measures which seek to control and regulate the press. The government is already proposing multiple proposals which aimed against the free press including the introduction of the absolute right to privacy (even to public figures).
The government is simultaneously involved in a public consultation campaign about construction and planning and the free press giving civil society a difficult challenge to prioritise between the two. In both of these reforms, the government intends to pass laws that favour its interests and not the general public.
The Minister for Justice can not be trusted with such a reform. Repeatedly he condemned journalists and made threatening remarks against the press.
A very good proposal about the press reform was proposed by the Nationalist Party, specifically by Karol Aquilian and Claudette Buttigieg. The government has refused to consider this proposal. The proposal is an excellent one and I fully support it and they are proposing to introduce symmetry in libel cases: those who lose a libel case have to pay damages to the journalist.
The government is trying to increase its controls over the press and its reforms and what it actually wants can also prove existential to the existence of the press in Malta. The press should be uncompromising in its stance because the government will be happy to introduce laws which curtail the right of the press to investigate and scrutinise people in power and the Labour Party.
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